


The Heiress

by daniebanaanie



Category: f(x)
Genre: F/F, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, TW: Some 18+ chapters, tw: anxiety, tw: depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-03-30 11:13:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13950378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daniebanaanie/pseuds/daniebanaanie
Summary: Krystal Jung, succesful CEO of Rilex Internationals, has caught every eye of every man in any sort of leading position from the moment she first joined the company. The young woman had taken over her passed-away father's corporate, after completing her education at the top of her class. She is bound to finish what her father had started and to complete his dream: to become the most successful in her field. The only problem is that there is one company ahead of her: Liu Industrials. Specializing in the same type of electronic devices, Rilex Internationals has a hard time keeping up. CEO Jung has never shied away from the dirty work, but the time was not ripe to sabotage yet.That is, until the eldest daughter of the chairman of Liu Industrials crosses her path. Amber Liu is everything Krystal Jung despises, but the young woman has an air about her that is hard to ignore, even for someone who has shied away from feelings all of her life.





	1. Châteaus & Skyscrapers • 1

"The first thing I remembered was the ringing of the church bells over the graveyard, whilst the singing of the choir accompanied the chest outside. The adults back then would have classified it as an unhappy series of events, but as a child you have no clue what's going on. As a child, you don't even have an idea who is in that chest and why your mother cries.   
I remember that I held her hand to comfort her, not knowing that the strange man in the suit laying in that wooden chest was my father, cold and lifeless. I should have been the one who cried, who held my mother's hand whilst she pinched mine reassuringly.   
My fate was sealed and everyone in the room knew except for me. People might think that my future was something positive. Great fortune, a successful career no matter what you did, fame. I, on the other hand, thought differently.   
They had told me that it had been a car accident. An unfortunate incident. A lucky shot, as so to say. Painless. He would have died in less than a second. That's what my mother told me and back then, as a six-year-old, I had believed her with a nativity that only children possess. My mother would never lie to me, would she?   
I grew up. Without a father, without a mother. My mother did not die, actually. She was simply not present in my life, at least, not in the way a mother should be in the life of their teenager. She was a wreck after my father's death.   
It was only a matter of days before the Vice-President took over from her. She excused herself, trying to get out from under the crushing weight of the stares and the judgements and the pity by telling everyone that she wanted to focus on taking care of me. I had many people coming up to me, wishing me the best, not knowing that my mother had told them that I had been doing badly since my father's death. We both knew it was the other way around but for the sake of my mother's dignity, I accepted my role as the weak child who so desperately missed her daddy. I did miss him though, but not as much as I ought to have, I realize now. I simply had never seen him much. It had almost felt like a stranger had died in my father's place.   
But I aged and I started to understand more and more what it meant to be the heiress of Rilex Internationals. Even though my mother did not actively take part in the company anymore, she was still the assigned CEO and was therefore expected at parties, business meetings and more. I was never allowed to come until I became eighteen years of age. By then, I had enrolled as an Economy major at Cambridge, only a few years away of directly being in charge of Rilex.   
My mother, then, found it a good time to start and educate me about the big, red, alarming hazard that is the business industry. But as she so cowardly explained that I should keep as far away from it as possible, I decided not to. To honour my father, to prove that I could do what he could not, I would continue his legacy. In that respect I am rather stubborn, I must admit. Hot-headed too.   
I believe I completely distanced myself from my mother after that. The one thing we had in common - my father - turned out to be not as important to her as he was to me. Despite never having known him, his life, actions and choices have shaped mine. I was planning on fulfilling his destiny, knowing he would be proud if I did so.   
I soon moved out and got my bachelor degree as well as my master's. It was only one day after my graduation from the university that I got a phone call from my father's old Vice President. In all those years, he had stayed in charge. He laid low, tried to run the company as good as possible but the years and the stress had eaten him away. His voice creaked through the phone as he congratulated me with graduating and invited me, for the first time alone, to visit the company to 'talk things through'. It took only a week before I walked into my father's office. And I suppose that was it… the beginning of my career."

Krystal ended the story in half a smile, whilst the reporter of GQ England stared at her like she had just managed to get water to burn. It took her -  she was a young woman, perhaps mid-twenties, with her blonde curls tucked behind her ear and an intelligent gaze behind a pair of glasses -  a few seconds to land back on earth and close her mouth. The last part of the story, which had been so thrilling that it had carried her away, was eagerly pinned down on the little notepad she held in her hand. After that, she ended the recording and tucked the little device back in her pocket. The reporter let a deep sigh escape out of her mouth.   
"Thank you so much for your time, Ms Jung," she said, her voice still a bit shaky of the excited nerves. Krystal's half of a smile grew, albeit only a few millimetres, into a polite smile as she nodded.   
"You're welcome," Krystal said politely. "If there is anything more you would like to know, please ask."  
"I think we've got it all, thank you," she said quickly. "I have to say, ma'am, that this interview exceeded my greatest expectations! You truly are one of my examples, if I can be so bold. And not only mine, but for a lot of younger girls as well. To them, you are a hero! The mighty female heroine who runs a big international all on her own! You broke through the glass ceiling and showed those misogynistic bastards what it's like to be a woman and-"  
"I have heard that many times,"Krystal interrupted, not minding the annoyed tone in her voice, as she folded her hands together onto her desk, only to break them apart again to take a sip of her coffee a few seconds later. "But if that's all, Mrs Henderson, I would like to continue my work. Like you said, I am head of a well-scaled international, and Rilex Internationals doesn't run itself."  
The overly-excited interviewer suddenly realized her mistake-  having lost all sense of time and formalities -  and immediately stood up. In her eagerness, she bumped over the chair, which only resulted in more clumsiness when she tried to pick it up and dropped her recorder. Krystal watched her from my desk, unamused. Henderson stood up again, brushed the loose curls away from her face and smiled awkwardly.   
"I am sorry, I must have taken a lot of your time. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for having an interview with us. We will send you the article before it airs, hoping it will please you," she rattled. Krystal nodded.   
"Good day, Mrs Henderson," she said, as she touched the touchpad of her laptop to make the screen light up. The blonde quickly nodded and muttered a few good-bye's as she made her way to the exit of the office, trying to get out as fast as she could.   
Krystal had less than a minute of rest when her secretary came bouncing in. A deep sigh left her mouth as she looked up when he closed the door, a broad grin, cheesy grin plastered on his face. His long, chocolate brown hair bounced on his shoulders and his green eyes eagerly found mine, who answered with a look that was not as eager. He held two mugs which held coffee in each. One black, another caramel brown. Krystal took the black one and took a little sip of it, careful not to burn her tongue or smudge her lipstick. Her lips left a red stain on the pearly white mugs.   
He sat across from her and downed - unlike Krystal - almost half of his cup at once. He was a broad guy. One of those who preferred going to the gym above everything. To work, he wore blouses tucked into neat pants with shiny black Dr Martens - the ones that only reach up to your calves - underneath. His hair was long, longer than hers. His reached past his shoulder, whilst hers ended just past her ear, halfway down her neck. He wore it in a bun most of the time but decided to let it run looseAnd  
"Yes, boss! Of course, boss! Will be done!"  
David stood up and grinned.   
"Don't you have anything else to do? Like, manage the schedule of the busiest woman in this corporate, for example?" Krystal hissed at him. "You are dismissed."  
"Suppose I'll just read the article," he said nonchalantly, with an apologetical smile.   
A sigh escaped her lips and she was forced to look up. Krystal's warning gaze said everything and David immediately realized his mistake.   
"Like what?"  
"Private stuff."  
"What did you tell them?" David asked.   
"It went well. I expect good reviews."  
She did not look up from her laptop, her expression remaining neutral.   
 "Just wanted to check in on you. Did the interview go well?"   
"What is it, David?" she asked him rather harshly, as she took another sip of her coffee. David drank from his cup, which resulted in him emptying it entirely.   
today, which was something Krystal had often warned him about. His hair, together with his neatly trimmed beard, broad shoulders and white, sparkling smile gave him something charismatic. Even Krystal had to admit that he had something attractive about him. If only a good pair of brains had come with them at birth too. Instead, he had received a bubbly, incredibly energetic personality, which caused him to wobble on his chair, bouncing from the left to the right like a little child, constantly. Krystal could hardly concentrate. And, like the puppy he is, he darted off towards the door. In his excitement, he left his mug on the desk and before she could call out to him to take it with him, he slammed the door shut with a loud bang.   
Krystal rolled her eyes. She started rubbing her temples to suppress an upcoming headache.


	2. Châteaus & Skyscrapers • 2

The headache Krystal had been trying to suppress turned out not to care about whether or not it was wanted. After the interview, she was plagued with a burning, palpitating pain in the head, from the back of the skull all the way up to the top of her head.   
After leaving the office, she immediately made her way to L'Étoile, one of the restaurants near the Rilex Internationals' Headquarters. Her driver put on his favourite song, which she knew word for word by now. It was agonizing to hear it with a headache like this.   
"Turn it off, please," she said icily, when the song continued to play. Her driver shot her a look in the rearview mirror, but obeyed nevertheless. The car eventually stopped.   
"Thank you, Mr. Lewis," Krystal greeted, as she got out of the car. Her uber-driver nodded respectfully and drove away, only to return again when Krystal had had enough and was ready to go home.   
She turned to face the restaurant. The name was written in curly, lightened letters above the entrance. Underneath, also shining brightly, were five golden stars, indicating the restaurant's exquisite quality in food. It was her favourite place to dine and by now she had automatically a place reserved on her name at Friday evenings. 

When she walked in, Krystal was greeted by the excited employees. Each of them bore a smile that almost looked real. Pearly white grins never faded off of their faces, which made Krystal feel more annoyed than pleased. With their white blouses tucked in their black pants, held up by a belt, and their feet stuck in shiny black shoes, they danced like figure skaters through the tables, bringing some drinks here and some food there. The men wore bow ties and the women were allowed to keep the upper button open, showing just their thin, sharp collar bones but left the rest to the imagination of the wealthy customers.   
The smell of luxurious food and lavendel came to welcome her when she walked through the wardrobe to the front desk. Almost immediately someone of the staff came running down, meeting her with a bright smile. It was a tiny girl, probably just out of puberty. She had her hair in a loose bun and her wide, genuine smile revealed that she probably just started working here, or had a lot of perseverance when it came to her trust in humanity.   
"Miss Jung, we have your table ready!" she chimed, her voice as sweet and tingling as bells on an early Christmas morning. Krystal despised her already.   
She nodded curtly and followed her. As she was walked to her table, Krystal noticed the edge of her blouse was sticking out of the girl's pants. It was a small detail, a small flaw in the perfectness that the restaurant strived for. Krystal immediately felt dissatisfied, as she always was when small imperfections occurred. Did she not strive for the very best? Anyone else should too.   
The girl brought her to her table and handed her the menu before she could even sit down.   
"Or will it be the usual?" she asked me with raised brows. Krystal shook her head as she took the menu from her hands, a little rougher than she had intended to. Krystal decided it did not matter.   
"I wish to look first, thank you very much," she said, already feeling my annoyance rise with the new young adolescent. "I do like to have a bottle of red wine."  
"On my way, Miss!" the girl sang. She darted off towards the bar and Krystal had to suppress the urge to massage her temples.   
She opened the menu and looked at it like she didn't know every single thing that was on the card already by heart. Her eyes followed the letters and read it all again whilst she tried to decide whether or not she should indeed choose her usual choice: the Australian Short Rib, dressed in Worcester sauce with roseval potatoes and vegetables at the side. It was a dish Krystal looked forward to every week, as she only ate once at L'Étoile. Even after a while, it did not bore, as many things in life did after repetition.   
But she did not feel like it tonight. Perhaps it was the change of waitress, or the fact that her blouse had not been tucked all the way in her pants, but she felt off. Maybe it was just the weekly downer and it just happened to be on the night she went out for food or perchance it was something else, but she did not want her steak tonight.

That is when the waitress came back with her bottle of wine. Krystal handed her back the menu with a polite smile and said: "I would like to have the Carrot-Ricotta Quiche, please."   
The girl eagerly wrote it down on a piece of paper, nodding as if agreeing with her choice.   
"On my way, Miss!" she said again, before running off to tell the kitchen staff what she wanted. Krystal watched her go. Her blouse was not tucked into her pants yet.   
She poured the wine and decided that she would have the whole bottle tonight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second chapter! I'm sorry it's a bit short. I wanted to include a piece of the following scene, but I couldn't find a nice break to split the chapter up in two. I decided to just leave it and give you guys a long (3500+) chapter next Monday! I am also getting more and more excited about the story, as I am currently writing the first scene Krystal meets Amber! I'm excited to show you guys, just bear with me and the story! Just view this little chapter as the tip of the ice berg of Krystal's personality in this story. 


	3. Châteaus & Skyscrapers • 3

Slightly tipsy because of the wine, Krystal opened the door to her apartment. The familiar smell of patchouli penetrated the air and found her nose. She breathed in deeply, held it in for a few seconds as if she wanted to taste the smell and let the air escape through a sigh out of her mouth.   
The front door fell shut when she let the door handle go. Krystal kicked out her heels in the small hall. By now, her feet and little toes did not know any better than to be trapped in crushing shoes like those all day, every day of the week, but she would've been lying if she had said it was not satisfying to walk around bare-footed over the black granite floor of her living room at the end of the day. Her feet made sticky sounds as she walked towards the wall-sized windows that decorated one entire wall of her apartment. Krystal looked down to the streets of Seoul. The street lights were enough to light up her entire living room. 

It was winter in South Korea. Early December, to be exact, which meant that anyone who dared to leave their houses, was bundled up in deep fur coats, with scarves knotted around their necks like they were about to hang themselves. A late Saturday night, but the shopping street at which her apartment complex laid was still buzzing with energy. The shopkeepers had shooed the late-night shoppers away only a couple of minutes ago, who were now contently walking back towards their cars or towards the small cafés that were still open and willing to pour them some hot cocoa or damping coffee. Big, wide smiles decorated their faces, knowing they had bought out-of-season clothing for a fourth of its price.   
And then there were the younger people. Most of them walked in the other direction; they were heading towards the centrum of the city, flocked in groups of 5 or more, to annoy the local bars before they went, almost completely drunk already, to the clubs, located on almost every corner of the street to blow the little money they had earned with their boring side jobs and waste it on alcohol. They just wanted to dance, Krystal knew. They just wanted to escape from their dull lives to dance and feel alive. If only they could remember it the next day, it might still have meant something.   
Only a small percent of the people on the street did not belong to those two categories. If you looked well, you could sometimes see elderly couples, slowly strolling through the shopping street. They always walked in the middle of the road, irritating both the youngsters and the busy shoppers, since their pace wasn't what it used to be. But they did not care, still believing that anyone remotely younger than they should give them the respect they deserved or thought to deserve. So, they kept on walking, hand in hand, through the street, enjoying the Christmas lights that the community service workers had already put up to make the enormous, with criminality and addictives filled city seem cosier.   
The annoying couple were not always old enough to be called grandma and grandpa. Sometimes it were teenagers or divorced thirty-somewhat-year-olds that had found new love. Either way, there was always at least one disturbing couple that had to marvel at the lights and the early Christmas decorations, as if they had never seen them before. But they had, only love made it so much more beautiful. Krystal knew that at least half of them had replaced their boyfriend or girlfriend the next year with a new one, only to perform the same dumb behaviour again, only this time with someone else. 

Next to the shopping street laid the street that was equally as busy, despite it being half-past ten at night, only now it was filled with all kinds of vehicles instead of people. Shoppers going home, tourists taking a cab back to their hotel, students riding buses back home after a long day at work. The cars honked at suddenly passing pedestrians or bikers that undertook dangerous events just to make it to the traffic light before it'd turn red.   
Seoul was a city that never slept, especially on a Saturday night. But even though the streets were still buzzing with activity, a strange melancholy crept upon Krystal. With her gaze focused on the happily smiling people fifty meters down, she could not imagine what it would be like walking down that street, her hands intertwined with a man she loved, or her arms hooked through those of a friend or a relative. Her life was simply way too different, so different that those people would never understand what went through her mind. It was too much to wrap her head around, knowing that most of them were happier than she was. 

Krystal did not feel lonely, not in the least. She liked being alone; loved it, even. Family only brought drama, friends came and went so it was wasted effort to even try to make some and she did not need a lover. If you were as rich as she was, you could get anyone with a flick of your wrist. Love would never be sincere, even if you thought it was, and she would never be able to truly trust someone. And on top of that, lovers only brought trouble as well. Break-ups made you act irrationally and made you less productive for a certain time being. Love made you think weirdly. Once you had fallen in love, logic suddenly had a very different meaning. Krystal would die first before she'd let love ruin her career; my father's empire. 

No, love was not for her. Not in the slightest. 

But on cold Saturday nights like these, even a woman like Krystal Jung craved company. Touches. Kisses. Lust.   
Which was why she turned away from the window, took her phone from her purse and dialled the one number she knew who would cure her of her melancholy. Or perhaps tire her out enough to fall asleep and indulge herself in the sweet darkness that took all the pressed emotions away.   
The phone rang only once before it got picked up.   
"I will be there in a quarter," a deep voice said, coming from the other end. There was no greeting or any chit-chatter. He knew it just wasted her time, especially if he knew what I wanted from him. He knew what I liked, as he had played this game countless of times in the last few years.   
"I will leave the door open," Krystal replied, before ending the call.   
As she let the phone fall on the couch, she decided to better get ready. Krystal walked to the bedroom, checking if the maid had done her work in making up the bed. It looked spotless as ever. The black sheets were pulled tight against the mattress and the pillows looked like a whole extra bag of feathers had been stuffed into them.   
Contently, Krystal walked on towards the bathroom. Her feet met the cold stone ground; this was the only spot in the apartment that didn't have heating running under the floor, which always resulted in cold feet. If she wasn't showering, she hated being in her bathroom, as it resulted in more cold body parts than was necessary. She walked towards the sink and let my her hands rest upon the rough, brown-ish, natural stone.   
A force made her look up, even though Krystal knew she looked bad. She always looked bad on Saturday nights. The circles underneath my eyes betrayed that she did not sleep well. They were mostly covered by make-up, but after months her body was so exhausted that they couldn't be fixed anymore. Dead, chocolate-coloured eyes stared back at her, following the contours of her face. High cheekbones, a fair skin with not even one pimple to be seen. No freckles or anything, just plainly pale. Krystal used to have an olive-coloured skin, but because of the lack of sunlight, it had turned sickly pale and therefore she had been able to beat most white women when it came to the colour of her skin. In a world in which white men held the power, it only worked in her favour, though, as it did not accentuate her Asian heritage.   
Medium brown hair running 'till half past her neck, a few inches away from her shoulders. Krystal liked her hair short. Perhaps it was a show of dominance, as men had short hair too. Men dominated the world. Krystal, too, wanted to dominate the world. Other than that, it was practical and stylish as well.   
Perhaps she would have given off a better statement if she had her hair running down to her butt, but she simply liked this. It accentuated her face, which had been worth accentuating a couple of years ago. It still was beautiful, but it was too sharp. Her cheekbones too boney, her face too emaciated, her eyes too shallow.    
Her eyes lowered, past her lips, her thin neck and stopped at her sharp collarbones. They were sticking out more than usual, which could be said the same of her hips. Krystal had gotten thinner over the past couple of months. It might only be a couple of kilograms, but she had always been thin of nature, so the loss of that extra weight hit her body hard. Her hip bones were visible through her dress and her cheeks had fallen in. By now, Krystal had surpassed the standard of beauty and her fragile appearance together with her milky skin had made her look sickly.   
But make-up had concealed her poor health for the past few months well and it would continue to do so, but she had to keep updating it to hold onto her façade. And if else, her employees would never dare to say she looked bad, but it was a comfort to herself that she knew she looked good. 

Krystal heard the front door open and close a couple of minutes after she had finished updating her make-up. She was going through a new edition of National Geographic that had come in at the beginning of the week and was just reading a piece about how glaciers might be related to volcanic eruptions when the noise made her look up. She stood up to meet her personal guard.   
Kai Thompson stood in front of her, his hands casually in the pockets of his plain black pants. He had already taken off his jacket and had laid it on the sofa and was now eyeing Krystal with a lustful expression. His brown eyes had turned darker, which was something she liked.   
Kai had been her personal guard for the past four years, since the moment she had started working at Rilex Industries. How secret rendezvous like these had flourished was not because there had been a forbidden spark between her, the CEO, and her bodyguard. It was a show of dominance, of power. Even in her own apartment, she continued to be the one in control. She always was.    
He was a good-looking man, with slick dark brown hair which was always pushed back and light eyes. His somewhat arrogant face was always smooth, with sharpened his jawline. His voice was deep when he spoke, which happened rarely. His shoulders were broad and his arms as thick as bench screws. His clothing outside of work - in which he was required to wear a formal suit - was mostly the latest fashion, which had been donated to him by Krystal herself. If he were to work with her and even come to her apartment, she wanted him to look his best. Kai knew that and always dressed up in the clothes Krystal had given him. A black trench coat, a formal jacket, a black turtleneck, tight chino's and black shoes.   
Kai Thompson was the grandson of a known investor of Rilex Industries, who had played a big part in the founding of the company. Now that they did not need is money anymore, his influence had grown considerably smaller which had resulted in him to be kicked out of the Board. But every now and then he asked for a favour that was actually too much for a man with so little prestige. Every time Krystal had wanted to refuse, he had written an angry e-mail that he ought to have his way, as he had helped her father build this foundation and raise it to the big international it was nowadays. Krystal knew he was too afraid to face her openly and simply granted him his favours, as a show of mercy.   
A couple of years ago, the old Mr Thompson had only ought it to be proper that his grandson, who clearly was not as smart as he wanted him to be, was offered a job at Rilex. He had already been working there for a couple of months when Krystal joined the company. Kai had been an intern then, as he still had to finish his education. The day Krystal met him, was the day he was just beginning his internship with one of the elderly bodyguards. He hobbled after them the most time of the day and sometimes roamed the company's Headquarters on his own when he was bored or too lazy to stand by the entrance doors all day.   
Since Mr Thompson knew as well as Krystal did that the boy had no future once he had finished his training, he had pleaded Krystal to take him in as part of her security team. That had been one of the favours that had actually come in quite handy, as there were still a couple of old rods participating in the security team. Since her father's death, there had been few new bodyguards and it might bring new life into the team if Kai Thompson joined them. Back then, he was still only 19 years old with muscles that seemed too big for someone his age. Now, a few years later, he had matured well. He had grown a few more inches and that made sure his arms looked more appropriate for his body structure than back in the days when he had just started his career at Rilex. He had started as just a rookie, helping out with the overall security of the building. But Kai turned out to be rather motivated now that he had gained a real job and turned out to be quite useful. In less than half a year he started helping out with press conferences and soon her head of security had recommended him to her as her personal guard.   
Kai had been her personal guard now for little over a year. That meaning that he stood by her door as she worked, made sure to escort her guests over to her office, called her personal Uber driver and only let someone into her office when she was not around if she had given him permission beforehand. At work, he was merely a pioneer that Krystal bossed around, just like David and all the other employees that did not have any significant importance. But he did not talk, unlike David. He wasn't shy or insecure or anything; he simply understood what was needed from him at work and what the weekly rendezvous meant.  
It had surprised Krystal at first that he hadn't sought more after a couple of times. Even the most annoying men tended to 'fall in love', especially with women who were rich in power and money alike. He had not tried anything, though, which Krystal was glad for. She that she would never fall for someone like him, despite the fact that he was the perfect picture; handsome, relatively rich, muscles over brains. A mannequin that she could dress up how she pleased. Another puppet to control effortlessly. But he did not intrigue her, as almost no one did. Until now, Krystal had never met anyone in her life who had blown her mind, which had already shaped the idea in her head that she might be alone until her death. The idea was as well scary as comforting and she had already made her peace with it. But romance was different from sexuality and even Krystal had to admit that she needed people like Kai once in a while. 

And now he was watching her with those darkened eyes, probably already imagining what was going to happen soon. Krystal stepped forward and he stayed still; exactly how she wanted it to be. He knew his role, Krystal knew hers.   
"Do you want a drink?" she asked him, her voice slow and sensual. She tried to put a little more feeling in it, but it was hard as she not only had to turn on Kai but also herself.   
"Yes, please," he replied, his face remaining neutral. Only his eyes spoke and they told her - no, screamed at her - that he already was excited. Krystal needn't even look at his crotch to confirm it. She walked past him, feeling his eyes sting in her back as she took two tumblers from the cabinet in the kitchen. She took a bottle of whiskey out of the cooler. It was half empty already; a result of their previous meetings. Krystal added ice to both of the glasses, then poured the drink until half of the tumblers were filled.   
She walked back. Her feet were silent on the floor. Krystal handed Kai his drink and held her own up for him to toast to. The glasses clang when they met. Kai put his to his mouth at the same time she put hers to her lips. She sipped, but he poured the liquid down his throat like it was lemonade. He kept his face straight whilst his throat burned and turned to Krystal. It was a clear signal he wanted to get it over with, that he was impatient for me to start. He was eager. Too eager.   
Krystal looked him straight in the eye and took another sip of her drink, reminding him that he was not the one in charge here. She could see the annoyance shoot across his face. It was only for a split second, then it disappeared, and he acted as if nothing had happened. He waited for her to finish her drink, which took her almost ten more minutes. She did not like whiskey, except on nights like these, but she had to drink it slowly, especially because she had already consumed a whole bottle of wine previously this evening.   
As Kai waited, Krystal turned on some music. It was her favourite piece: Wagner's Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla, or Einzug der Götter in Walhall. The play talked about Donner, a young Norseman who dispersed the clouds with one hit of his miraculous hammer. The Valhalla opens itself and for a moment, even the gods are perplexed. Then they ascend and take their place in the heavens. 

Krystal eventually put her empty glass down and signed with a nod of her head that he should follow her to the bedroom. He followed closely, from which she knew he was excited. But he did not pass her, he stayed behind as she walked towards the bedroom.   
"Take off your clothes," she said to him, as soon as the door fell shut. Kai nodded and took off his sweater, his shoes and his pants. Krystal could see his member already up straight through his underwear. When he also took off his boxer shorts, he expectantly looked over to her, waiting for further instructions.   
"Take the stool and sit down."  
He took the stool from my bedside table and sat down, his legs already spread a little and his lower arms resting on his tensed thighs. Krystal's hand curled over her back, reaching up for the zipper of her dress. The fabric immediately fell on the ground when she pulled it down, as her thin body did not have the volume anymore when she had bought it. She stepped out of the piece of clothing and undid her bra by herself. It fell on the ground as well.   
She let Kai take in her body in with his eyes. He looked as if he had never seen it before, with such lust that it almost seemed he would explode if she would not act soon. It almost bored her. A deep sigh left her mouth as she stepped forward and placed both of her hands on his shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am uploading this a little earlier (it's Sunday night around 23:00 as I'm writing this), just because I won't have much time tomorrow. I hope you guys like it! There'll probably be two or three more chapters before Amber appears, so please wait patiently! 


	4. Châteaus & Skyscrapers • 4

Krystal woke up the next morning with a slight headache. It wasn't the wine, since she did not feel nauseous or more lifeless than usual. It took her only a few seconds to realize that her headache had been caused by the snoring of the person next to her.   
Kai was spread out over her bed, his legs and arms taking up as much space as he could. Now that she watched him sleep, Krystal found it a miracle that he hadn't woken her up. A little disgusted at his snoring, she decided did not to care to be silent when she got out of bed to walk towards the bathroom. The first thing Krystal did was lock the door and put on the shower. The water clattered against the dark pieces natural stone that was as well decorating her shower as her sink. The first thing she took was her body wash. Krystal started scrubbing her body like she had not showered for days.   
It took only a few minutes before she had turned up the heat until her skin turned as red as a lobster. Together with the scrubbing - with which she removed the first few layers of her skin - her body soon started to feel clean. She could still feel Kai's hands on my body from last night and only after she had washed multiple times the feeling faded away. 

Half an hour passed since Krystal had turned on the shower and after a few more minutes, she was able to put it off again. She dried herself off and walked, naked, towards the closet. There, she chose simple lingerie - since it was Sunday after all and she for once did not have anything to do - some black skinny jeans and a simple white blouse. It looked casual, as she normally wore more expensive clothing.   
Back in the bathroom Krystal dried her hair and tried to shape it a bit. Her hair fluffed up a bit every time she used the hairdryer, but with a few quick combs with her fingers, her hair returned back to straight. For once, she put on a ponytail. She applied her make-up, leaving her usual red lipstick. When Krystal was done and looked in the mirror, she looked nothing like herself. Casual did not fit her well and she did not like her pale lips like that. Yet, there was no one she needed to look good for and the lipstick would only ruin her glasses every time she tried to take a sip.   
After almost an hour, Krystal was finally able to unlock the bathroom door again. Kai laid, with his legs still spread, in her bed. He had woken up and now rested with his back against the bedframe, playing some stupid fighting game on his phone while he waited for me to come back in. By the look of his body language, he had not yet put on any underwear. Krystal lifted her nose in a somewhat arrogant manner.   
When he noticed her coming in, he looked up for a few seconds to smile, then returned to his game.   
"Your turn," Krystal said coldly. Kai paused his game, nodded and stood up. She looked away as he did so. Now that the sensational rush of last night was gone, she did not wish to look at his sex again - she might even feel a tad appalled as well.   
He passed me, but right before he entered the bathroom, Krystal felt his hand slip into hers. It almost felt like an electric shock and she immediately took her hand back, startled at the touch. She looked up, annoyedly. Kai realized his mistake and placed his hand awkwardly behind his back. He cleared his throat.   
"I could also stay here if you want. It's Sunday, we're both off for today and-"  
"If you ever propose that again, I will be obliged to find someone who can replace you, Mr Thompson."  
Kai frowned at Krystal's icy reply. Even though he had expected an answer like that, he had not been able to imagine how easily it had come out of my mouth. At the look in her eyes, he knew she meant it. He knew she could get anyone that she wanted. He was not special to her and Krystal hoped he knew he was merely a toy she liked to use every once in a while.   
She did not know what was going on in Kai's mind but she hoped he knew. The look in his eyes told her he did or at least was reminded of it.   
He slowly nodded and silently walked towards the bathroom. He did not lock it. Kai never locked it. Krystal reckoned he invited her to follow him, to re-start their shameful actions of last night or dare her to show anything else than the occasional lustful feelings. She wondered if he hoped that she would fall from him.  
Krystal never followed him, nor would ever. 

About a quarter later, he returned towards the bedroom, fully dressed. By then, Krystal had retreated to the living room. She had turned the TV on, so she could hear the news play as she was busy in the kitchen preparing a meal for herself. It was half-past ten already and her stomach had started to growl.   
The breakfast was simple; two pieces of toast covered in a thin layer of Philadelphia and a cup of damping, black coffee. Krystal preferred to drink it strongly, as the other sweeter and lighter variants tended not to have any effect anymore on her.   
Kai stepped into the living room wearing the clothes of yesterday evening.   
"I will meet you at work, Mr Thompson," Krystal said to him before he could open his mouth.   
"Yes, of course," Kai answered curtly. He eyed my plate curiously. "Won't we be grabbing breakfast on the road, as we always do?"  
She shook my head. "I have an appointment to attend to which you have no intend of joining. You will be eating alone."  
"An appointment? It's Sunday."  
She looked up at him, annoyance displaying in her eyes. A sigh left her mouth that indicated how she thought of him: as stupid.   
"Who said it was a business meeting, Kai?" Krystal bit at him. "I will see you at work."  
She added the last bit with a lousy wave of her hand. Kai understood the hint, nodded shortly and took his coat from the rug of the couch. Without putting it on, he walked towards the front door, opened and left.   
Krystal let out a relieved sigh. Oh, how people were exhausting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another rather short chapter. Expect two more chapters after this before Amber appears, sorry guys! Also, I'm currently also writing a small Kryber one-shot called Sick at heart, so please look forward to that! I got inspired yesterday and I have already managed to write half of the story haha, so expect it somewhere near the end of this week! 


	5. Châteaus & Skyscrapers • 5

Krystal finished her breakfast watching the news, then put her mug and plate in the dishwasher that hadn't been on for days. She did not use many dishes, as she mostly dined outside.   
After a quick check on her make-up and putting her hair up in a side-bun, Krystal took her coat as well. The navy blue accentuated the paleness of her skin but since the band around her waist made her figure appear better than it was, she had decided that the coat was allowed to stay.   
Krystal grabbed the keys of the car, let her eyes go one last time over the furniture that was like home but at the same time still a bit unfamiliar and opened the front door.   
The drive was endless, it seemed. The small quarter that it took her to get to the Rilex Internationals Headquarters had made her forget how to drive long distances. The two hours it took her to leave Seoul and enter Gangwon-do, the province that was known for its cows and the endless number of towns consisting only 250 people, were terrible. Krystal could only listen to Wagner for a small amount of time. After half an hour, she had turned off the music which has caused the rest of the ride to be incredibly dull.   
Luckily it was Sunday, which meant the roads were relatively easy, especially when she came closer to the parts of South Korea which belonged to the farmers and the producers. The highways were replaced by country roads or sometimes even dirt roads as she made her way to the Jung Mansion, located on the west side of Gangwon-do, yet still relatively close to the Gyeonggi-do border.   
The manor was located a few kilometres outside a tiny village that was once appointed 'one of the greenest towns of South Korea'. It lay close to a nature reserve which was one of its main attractions when it came to tourists. Those who wanted to see wild horses or deer could take tours through the area with guides who knew some basic information about the animals.   
Besides that, the village looked like it had sprouted out of the ground during the 1200s and had not changed ever since. It was one of the reasons why her father had selected this town as the residence for the Jung Mansion, unlike one of the bigger cities who could provide more opportunities, like Seoul, Busan, Suwon or Cheongju.   
Once you had passed the centre of the city, the immense building was easy to spot. Since the nature around the town mostly consisted of the countryside without much trees or relief, the manor could be seen from far. There was only one road leading towards the house and it was known by the residents of the village as the 'ghost road', as there were no street lights to help vehicles, bikers and pedestrians navigate and the weak, flickering lights of the mansion could be seen from far.   
During the day, there was nothing ghost-like about the road. The only thing that irritated Krystal was the dust that would settle between the grooves of the car's tires and the ever-going fear that you might kill a suicidal rabbit.   
Jung Mansion appeared only five minutes after her car had left the tiny town behind. The enormous structure arose between the trees, towering over the empty landscape. Even from here you could see the hints of the Renaissance. Towering tall above the trees with columns decorating the outside of the building, as if it's helping with holding up the floors. The pediment held up the black roof, that had lost a few of its roof tiles over the year. As it was barely noticeable but to a trained eye, Krystal had never called someone to repair it. It wasn't like anyone important lived here anyway, so what was the use of wasting all that money?  
What did need to be done was the paint. In the few years that the manor had resided here, the white paint had started discolouring, giving it a dirty yellow colour, and had begun to bladder off the walls. With windows that were covered with curtains and ivy curling around the sides of the house, it did look like a haunted mansion. Luckily, there was only one ghoul who lived there and she wasn't a threat to anyone but herself.   
Krystal drove further until the black gates stopped her. They were made of curled iron, creating the form of a fox's head in the middle.   
Growing up as a child, Krystal had thought of the fox as their brand, their symbol, their way of letting the world know that they were a proud family. Now that she was an adult, she thought of the fox as foolish. The family was wiped out or scattered all over the place. The fox meant nothing anymore and showed rather the weaknesses of the Jungs than their strengths. The cunningness of the fox had not helped her father during his accident, nor her mother now that she was ill. And most of all, the fox did not help Krystal at all. It was not the intelligence of their family's sigil that had helped her rise to the top of Rilex Internationals: it was her own cunningness. The only significance the fox now had was that it was the logo of Rilex Internationals.   
Krystal stopped in front of the gate, rolled down her window and pushed on the button of the intercom. It took a minute or so before she heard a familiar voice, despite the electronic sound that had twisted it.   
"Jung mansion, what can I help you with?"  
"It's me, Mr White," Krystal answered.   
"Oh, welcome home, Miss! I'll immediately open the gate for you!"   
The intercom made a small buzzing sound which indicated that the person on the other end had hung up. The gates opened creakily and she re-started the car's engine.   
The car glided forwards onto the driveway. The white pebbles crunched and ground under the wheels of the car. Before the car came to a halt in front of the two enormous, mahogany wooden doors, Mr White already came running around the corner.   
White used to be the head-housekeeper when Krystal's parents had still been around. Even back then, his face was covered in wrinkles, which were so bad that sometimes you could barely see his eyes, and his hair was as white as the first snow in December.   
He had served the Jungs from since he was a young man, first working for Kevin Jung, Rilex Internationals' founder. As Kevin passed through his life's work onto his eldest son, Chester, he also passed on quite a lot of extras. When Chester moved with his wife and newborn daughter to South Korea to establish the new place for Rilex Internationals' Headquarters, Mr White came along, together with most of the rest of the household.   
Now, two-and-a-half decades later, he was still on the team, albeit not as head-housekeeper anymore. He was still good for the job - so good that Krystal often wondered why he stayed in this hell hole - but there were simply barely any employees left. Most of them had left after her mother had fallen ill, realizing soon that the Jungs had nothing to offer them but money. For most, money - even if it was a large sum like the Jungs handed their staff - was not enough to keep them in a strange country in which they were still struggling to speak the language. English was still their native language and the Korean culture was strange to anyone who wasn't Asian themselves. Growing up in the USA, Krystal had learnt a great deal of the Korean culture from Mrs Chu, Mr White's right hand. She had even helped her read hangul. The way the woman had glowed up when she had gotten a phrase or a word right had been worth it to study the language.   
By now, she knew how to speak Korean fluently.   
Now, whenever she went back to the mansion, her tremendous amount of Korean lessons was only one of the memories that haunted her. Mrs Chu was dead - as she had already been old and widowed when she had joined the Jungs back to her motherland South Korea - and so was her desire to visit her old home again. Still, by seeing the faces of the staff that was still around, her heart could not help to ache a little bit.   
But for now, there were other things she needed to worry about; one which was the only reason why Mr White and the other employees were still around.   
Krystal stepped out of the car and locked it. The shoes of Mr White chirped on the pebbles as he walked towards her, as fast as his old men's legs could carry him. He grabbed her hand before she was fully turned around and pinched it reassuringly. A wide smile had grown on his face and there had appeared a twinkle, which glowed fiercer than the brightest star in the sky, in his eyes.   
"Krystal, Krystal, so good to see you!" he purred, pinching her hand excitedly a few times. Krystal let him hold her hand, as he had earned that privilege during his life-long service to the Jung family. Krystal had - after all - grown quite fond of him, on top of that. He was one of the few she genuinely liked.   
A small smile appeared on her face.   
"It's good to see you too, Mr Choi," she replied. Mr White immediately shook his head.   
"Please, I told you to call me Minho," he said. Krystal nodded although she was quite sure she would never call him by his first name. Now that she had grown older, the nickname she had given him long ago did not suit him anymore, although his hair was still white.   
Back when she was still younger and the Jung Mansion was booming with life, the employees were hard to tell apart as a child. As Mr White had been the eldest one and had already begun to show white streaks in his grey hair, Krystal had crowned him 'Mr White' since he was the only one of the household with white hair. After that, her parents had always known who she had meant if she called for Mr White and soon the other employees had also started to use that name.   
As far as she knew, Mr White still used his nickname; wearing it as a badge of honour. But she still wanted to respect the older man and now that she had grown into a fully well-understanding adult, she liked to call him by his own name.   
"Where is mother?" Krystal asked him.   
"Oh, right, of course. Follow me, she is upstairs," Mr White said, as he let her hand go. He led her around the mansion to the back door. Nowadays, the large front doors always stayed shut if they needn't be opened.   
The backdoor immediately led to the kitchen. As Krystal herself preferred to work with white, black, grey and Bordeaux red in her interior, her parents had had an entirely different idea when they had built the mansion. The kitchen was rather rural-themed, with dark, ebony wooden cabinets. The floor was made of the same material. The counter was covered in a grey type of marble, one that Krystal had always disliked. She loved the look of the polished natural stone, but she liked it to be black or white. The grey marble consisted of small dots, one darker or lighter than the other, creating an uneven surface. The sink, stove and fridge door were all made of a black scrappy metal that looked like it was reused, especially now that it had been used for two decades.   
There was a small table, just enough for six persons to sit at, placed in the middle of the kitchen. It was mostly used by the employees to cut vegetables at if the counter was too full of stuff. Now that Krystal was older, she could picture Mr White and the others casually opening a bottle of wine here too, trying to pass the dull, achingly long days with useless chatter as they tried to drink away whatever was bothering them.   
The kitchen immediately led to the great entrance hall, which connected most parts of the house. From there, you could head up the immensely large stairs to the first floor or head left to the living room, which basically took in the rest of the ground floor, except for the small laundry room that laid directly next to the kitchen. It had been years since she had last been in the living room. Krystal wondered if anything had changed. She realized she did not care enough to check.   
Mr White struggled a bit with walking up the stairs. Krystal, respectfully, stayed behind him as they slowly continued up. She knew the way to her mother's room. She knew the crooks and creaks of her old home better than Mr White ever would, but she followed him still. When she came to think of it, this house had been Mr White's home longer than it had been hers. With that thought on her mind, she suddenly felt very isolated. The house from her memories did not exist anymore. It felt like all the energy and light had been drained. The employees were gone. Her parents were gone. She was gone. The only one who remained was Mr White. Always, always Mr White.   
The room to her mother's room was dark. The ebony wooden floor only accentuated the absence of light. Krystal knew her way around the house and could even close her eyes without struggling once to find the right room. The rhythmic clicking of her heels on the floor was a welcome sound.   
They eventually stopped in front of the right door. If you had not known that her mother's room was behind it, the door would not have stood out at all. It seemed to be just a random door in a random corridor in a random part of the house. To Krystal - and to everyone else still working for the Jungs - the door was like a red flag to a bull.   
Mr White turned around, seeming to have shrunken a little bit.   
"Ladies first," he said, as he stepped back a bit to let Krystal pass. She nodded curtly and opened the door confidently. She walked in and immediately spotted her late mother.   
She was only fifty-one years old but she looked like she had strayed through the streets of Seoul at least half of her life. Her ever so beautiful, long, dark hair hung loose and tangled around her shoulders. It had grown grey by now. Deep bags hung under her eyes and her teeth had turned yellow from the lack of brushing. Her lips, which used to always be painted red, just like Krystal's now, were bitten and showed small wounds.   
Her mother still wore her pyjamas and was busy taking everything out of her closet. She was tossing the clothes on the bed and did not even notice her only child come in. Krystal did not move and simply watched; disgusted.   
Mr White came in after her.   
"She has gotten worse," he sighed, as he sat down on the bed, next to her mother. She looked up at him, murmured something that wasn't loud enough to understand - although Krystal doubted it would have made any sense - and went on with re-decorating her closet.   
"Still every twenty-four hours a rivastigmine Band-Aid, but those have become harder and harder to put on her. She won't let us take off the one of the previous day because it probably hurts. She becomes very aggressive and once smashed all the plants from the windowsill. Mrs Jung did not hurt anybody and we let her out of her room after that, but her temper has worsened. Besides that, we still give her galantamine and memantine. We just crush the pills and put it through her food, that's all fine. Yet, I doubt she even tastes the food anymore," Mr White explained, his voice dropping near the end. Krystal noticed he had a hard time seeing her mother this way. She, on the other hand, did not mind it as much as he did. Sure, it was hard for her to watch but rather because it was annoying to have a mentally sick mother. It barely hurt.   
"Raise her doses of memantine," she simply said. "That should take care of it by now."  
"Are you sure, Krystal? It's quite a heavy drug. Shouldn't we let a doctor decide?"  
"I already talked with one," Krystal replied curtly, not feeling to be questioned, even by Mr White. "He had already prescribed upping the doses but as everything was still fine I had let it be. She can have 5 milligrams extra, 10 if necessary. Just see how it goes and if she calms down."  
Mr White nodded silently. Both of them watched the lady of Jung Mansion for a moment, who had now turned around to do something else but was distracted by the clothes once more. She now tried to hang them back in the closet, but she struggled with getting the hanger around the iron pole. Her hands shook.   
"How are her motorial skills? Has it worsened?" Krystal asked as she watched her mother.   
"Not by much but yes, it has gotten a bit worse. She shakes all the time now," White answered her.   
"And her alertness? Has she been zoning out?"  
"So much that we almost have to feed her during dinner," Mr White sighs. He was silent for a moment, then looked back up to me. "Are you sure the rising of the medication will help?"  
"We have nothing to lose, do we? They get financed by the government," Krystal casually answered, with almost a sense of boredom in her voice. She did not really care whether they worked or not.   
"I did not mean that. You know she will never get better. She has even dropped her crossword puzzles."  
"I understand that, Mr White."  
"Then what's the meaning of keeping her here, just to raise her medication and hope she will act like the person she used to be?"   
Krystal rose one of her eyebrows and turned, for the first time since they had entered the room, to him.   
"I do not hope she will act like she used to be," she said icily. In fact, she had rather that she died but she could not tell Mr White that, seeing he was still really fond of her mother. "The only reason I am keeping her here is to protect the family name, as father had always told me to.  If we send her off to some retirement home, we are defiling the family's name. The best thing is to keep her hidden and have her pass off, something like, a cerebral haemorrhage."  
Mr White had started frowning but nevertheless nodded silently. He looked away, back to her mother again.   
"But, Mr Choi, I told you that if you ever wanted to leave, that you should just call me, remember?"  
Krystal voice had grown softer, as much as it was able to. In fact, it was still rather toneless and quite neutral, but Mr White sensed the change immediately. He looked back for a moment to shake his head.   
"No," he muttered. "No, and even if I wanted to, I'd have nowhere to go. The Jung Mansion is as much my home as it is yours, Krystal. I'll stay and take care of her, even if I will be the last one staying."  
"What about the others? Katherina, Laura and Lola? They are still…"  
"Young?" Mr White suggested, with a hint of a smile on his face. "No, they prefer to stay too, although they have halved their hours here and taken up another job back in the village."  
"Yes, I saw," Krystal said. Of course, she had seen, since each of the middle-aged women had personally contacted her upon wanting to change their working hours. Three maids could only do so much when Mr White was always around and there were no people to sit on the couch in the living room or play in the garden or shower in the 4 bathrooms. Even one maid had been enough to keep the house clean from dust.   
But Krystal had been generous and had let all of them stay. They were family friends after all. Her father would have wanted that.   
They watched her mother for another few minutes before Krystal let out a short sigh.   
"Let's go downstairs to discuss the rest," she said. Mr White nodded and both of them turned around.   
Just as Krystal wanted to place her hand upon the doorknob, her mother suddenly turned around.   
"Krystal? My Soojung? Is that you?"  
It was the first time that she had spoken that had been more than a murmur in the presence of Krystal. Alexandra Jung's voice was hoarse and creaky, like that of an old woman who had smoked all of her life and was now suffering from a lung disease. Two brown eyes watched her confusedly; her brain not being able to figure out whether it really was her daughter or not.   
She slowly turned around. Krystal realized that she was clenching her jaws so tight upon each other that it hurt her teeth.   
"Yes, mother, it's me."  
Her voice had sounded icier than she had intended it to be. With her sick mother, she at least tried to make it sound welcoming. But her whole appearance disgusted her. Krystal could smell her from here, even when she was still a few meters away. That only attributed to the dislike she had already developed for her since her youth. It was not easy to suddenly act charitable, even when her mother acted like a small child.   
Her mother watched her, tilting her head slowly to the left as if she did not understand. There seemed to be some sort of recognition, a light in her eyes that was barely lit. It was only a split before it died again, her the corners of her mouth sunk deeper down.   
"You should do your homework, Krystal," her mother said, with regular pauses to re-think about what she wanted to say. "You got a bad grade for economics."  
"I never obtained a grade lower than a seven for economics, mother," Krystal replied softly. The older woman started to laugh lightly.   
"Ah yes, you are just like your father. You've got such an economical sense. That's why we live here, you know? Because he has so much talent. Where is he, anyway? I haven't seen him since yesterday…"  
Krystal wanted to open her mouth again, but Mr White grabbed her wrist. He shot her a meaningful look and she closed it again.   
"He will be coming back soon, Alexandra," he hummed, as he sat down on the bed and carefully grabbed Krystal's mother's hand. "He is working."  
"Oh, of course. Thank you, Minho," her mother murmured before she returned to play with the leftovers of the clothes in her closet.   
Mr White watched her for a moment, then slowly shook his head and stood up with a sigh.   
"Let's go downstairs," he said. Krystal nodded, let Mr White open the door for her and followed him, without looking over her shoulder for one last glance.   
Mr White did not speak until they reached the kitchen again.   
"Are you still doing financially good? Food, cleaning supplies, your own salary?" Krystal asked him before the kitchen door had managed to close properly. The old man turned around, suddenly looking twenty years older than he actually was. He sighed loud and long.   
"Does it really not bother you that she is like that?" he asked her slowly, avoiding the question Krystal had offered him. She did not think twice.   
"It does not."  
Mr White shook slowly his head, letting out another sigh.   
"We're fine. We eat diversely and Alexandra still eats well too. Once a month me, Katharina, Laura and Lola have a bottle of wine from the money that's left. The garden is looking fine too and we have started to grow our own vegetables in the greenhouse to spare costs in the long run. The money for the cleaning supplies is a little in abundant now that we don't have to clean the place that often anymore so you can lower that."  
"Very well," Krystal replied. "Is there anything else you like to report?"  
Mr White looked up, catching her eye. His gaze was a strange mix that Krystal couldn't place exactly. It wasn't admiration, but he respected her. At the same time, there was a disconnection between them, one that had only started to settle when she had left Jung Mansion and had gone her own way. Krystal had been introverted and closed down her entire life already but it had increased when she had started following up her father as head of Rilex Internationals.   
"No, there is nothing," Mr White slowly said. "Will you stay for a cup of tea? I have bought your favourite."  
"I do not drink tea anymore, sadly. And I still have work to do," Krystal said. "If there are any problems, you know how to contact me."  
She adjusted her coat and hung her purse back over her arm. Mr White understood the hint and silently opened the back door for her. Krystal left first and he hobbled right after her. As she walked she managed to get her key out of her back and unlock her car, proudly waiting for her as a loyal dog on the porch.   
Krystal opened the door and sat down. Within seconds the car had started and she drove backwards. Mr White watched her, slowly waving as she turned and rode back to the gates. Krystal did not wave back nor turned around to say goodbye to him, but she viewed him from her mirror when she had to stop in front of the automatic gates for a moment. The fox's head watched her closely.   
When they opened, she tore her gaze away from Mr White and Jung Mansion. Then, she pushed down the gas pedal all the way until it hit the ground. The engine roared and the car raced back towards Seoul. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter after this without Amber! Hang in there! Also, my Kryber fanfiction Sick at heart will also appear soon! I'm just very busy right now, so I hope I'll be able to finish it soon! 


	6. Wine & Whiskey • 1

The clock read half past four when Krystal arrived back home. When she opened the door to her apartment, the lights sprung on to welcome her. It was the only thing that welcomed her.   
Sunday was the one day in the week she disliked since there was nothing to be done. Sometimes she took a book to entertain herself, but there were only a few she really liked and even the Catcher in the Rye could not excite her after a visit to the Jung Mansion. And by now, she knew the book by heart. Holden Caulfield could not cheer her up. He hadn't done that in weeks, in fact.   
Watching television wasn't an option either. The TV was only turned on for the eight o'clock news every morning and besides that, she was not interested in the hordes of soaps and TV-shows that were being constantly showed and repeated on every single channel. Cooking wasn't her thing either, nor gardening or drawing nor anything else. She worked out on Friday and Wednesday evenings and that was enough to keep her body fit.   
Krystal wished that Sundays always passed as quickly as possible. 

Hours passed and Krystal worked until her phone recommended her going to bed. At a quarter to twelve, she closed her laptop and put it away. A sigh escaped her lips slowly.   
Normally she would just have started preparing herself for the next morning or do some things she hadn't been able to complete last Friday, but now that Rilex Internationals' 40th anniversary was coming up, Krystal wasn't able to enjoy the easy rate of which she usually went through her work. As chief executive officer, she was in charge of planning the party that was going to be thrown in the welcoming hall of Rilex Internationals' Headquarters. It was going to be the biggest party Rilex had ever known since her father had died and with that resigned from his position. He had passed away when Krystal was five years old and during that period, Rilex had turned 30 but the vice-president hadn't organized a party then. Now that Krystal was in charge, she wanted to make her first anniversary of Rilex Internationals big. She wanted to honour her father with that. She wanted to honour her family and all of her employees that worked day-in day-out so hard to make Rilex successful. But most of all, she wanted to show off her wealth and her power. She wanted other CEOs to know that she was more successful than them and she wanted them to cower in front of her when she spoke.   
On top of that, it was a great way to strengthen the bonds Rilex has with other companies. She'd invite all the other CEOs to make sure one and each of them were still loyal to her company. Perhaps, there were even going to be opportunities to form new alliances. Rilex wasn't alone in the business world and even though a lot of other rivals had already begun to collaborate with Rilex, there were still a few left that were too stubborn to see that Rilex offered them big chances. Krystal could promise them wealth if they did what she said. Wealth came with a decrease from personal freedom, but were they really going to risk bankruptcy for something shallow as pride? Liu Industries, their top component was. But Liu Industries had a domain which was at least as big as Rilex's. They had not given in to Krystal yet, but she knew they would.   
Yes, one day they would. And Rilex would grow out to the biggest international the world had ever seen. 

Liu Industries were perhaps their largest and challenger. Not only because they had snatched away a couple of smaller companies that could still be of use to Rilex, but also because there was an ever-lasting hostility between the two companies. As far as Krystal knew, her father and Dexter Liu had been college friends - best friends, to be exact. They used to do everything together. There were even pictures of them together in Jung Mansion, ones that Krystal had always found rather peculiar.   
Her father had never told her the real story since she had been still too young to understand before he died. Later on, she had tried her mother when she was still sane, but she had waved away her questions with an arrogant flick of her hand, hissing towards her daughter that the Lius could not be trusted and that she needn't know anything more than that Rilex had been Liu's rival for over two decades.   
A few years before she finished college, Mr White had told her what had happened between the Jungs and the Lius. It was less spectacular than she had thought it would be since the two friends had gone their own ways without a single fight or a single foul word.   
You see, Dexter Liu had specialized in ICT & Economics whereas Chester Jung had always dreamed of his own bio-technical company. It therefore happened that Chester had co-founded Rilex Internationals with another man named Felix Lexon. The two of the later split because Lexon wasn't able to keep up with the growth of Rilex anymore. Chester then bought his share and build a subsystem for the company to grow on until it was as big as it is today. Nowadays, they did not only specialize in biotechnology anymore but had more projects running than NASA.   
Dexter Liu had started his own company about the same time Chester had and had had more difficulty starting up than his old friend. Nevertheless, he made it through and out-rose Rilex around the time her father had passed away. In the time that Krystal had needed to grow up and get her university degree, Rilex had fallen far behind on Liu Industries, who was beside Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Philips, Sony, LG and so on one of the main leading companies. They earned piles of money and with every minute, Liu Industrials put more distance between them and other companies, including Rilex Internationals.    
Now that Krystal was in charge, she had decreased the gap but there was still a long way to go until she was big enough to buy Liu Industrials. But unlike the vice-president and her father before him, she had started to make alliances with other leading companies. A collaboration with Sony to create an AR system that was actually worth something, a partnership with Apple to bring out a new MacBook with special software that allowed the computer to log into, among other things, into MRI- and CT-systems and finally an association with Oxford University to help scientist create more devices that could medically be used in hospitals and research centres.   
Rilex had shot up on the ladder almost immediately, all thanks to Krystal. And for a while everything was good. Krystal had even been on the edge of contacting Dexter Liu to try and get him into a discussion whether the two companies and families should re-form their former bonds when Dexter Liu had stepped down.   
Dexter Liu had traded places with his daughter. His second-born daughter, Olympia Liu. Olympia was just a year younger than Krystal was and the moment she had held a press conference to announce that she would take over her father's place and act as the CEO of Liu Industries from now on, Krystal had started to dislike the girl.   
With a small face, perfect features, full, pink lips and light, intelligent blue eyes, the girl seemed to be a flawless little copy of her father. Her cheekbones were high and her frame petite. Her fragile appearance was a complete illusion though, as she fired half of the Board less than a week later. All of her father's old rods were kindly asked to resign so that they still could keep some of their dignity and were replaced by Olympia's own little dogs, who would follow her around on every occasion.   
Krystal knew little of what was happening behind the walls of Liu Industries. Now that Olympia was in charge, press conferences rarely happened. Whereas her father always made known to his clients and to the general public what Liu Industries was working on, Olympia preferred to keep it a secret. It was therefore very hard to estimate what she was working on. Was it virtual reality? Augmented reality? Robotics? Or perhaps had she become interested in aviation and space travel? Krystal didn't know what she was working on and couldn't adjust her schedules to that either. She was still aiming to surpass Liu Industries soon but if Olympia suddenly brought out a completely working robot who was able to help in the household whilst Krystal was working on augmented reality glasses, she would make incredible profits and Krystal would fall behind immediately. There was no way of knowing what Olympia wanted to bring out, which meant that the only way to decrease the gap between Rilex and Liu Industrials was to bring out a dashing product first. 

The rivalry between Jung and Liu endured because of the sudden change in CEOs. As their fathers had gotten along just fine and the two companies had been able to co-exist perfectly, their daughters had sparked up a fire that had soon grown out into a flaming forest fire that was about to indulge both of them. As far as Krystal knew, her only goal was to surpass Liu Industries and stay ahead as long as she could but if she could take down Liu Industrials on her way doing so, then she would not mind the least.   
Krystal had hired 50 more engineers in the past year. By now, she had at least six new projects running alongside the rather 'standard' products she wanted to bring out, like computers with facial recognition or improved versions of the software for the electronica that was already out there. They, too, were still working on and funding research to more medical devices, although it was put on low-maintenance right now.   
Krystal had changed her father's company into her own battleground and sometimes she couldn't help to feel a little bit ashamed because of that. Her father had wanted to help people through working closely with scientists and develop new systems that would be of use in many hospitals. But the moment she thought about quitting her projects and going back to the things they were, she realized that Olympia Liu would win. Krystal would rather die than let that happen. 

Rilex Internationals' 40th anniversary party was going to include many of Liu Industries partners or those who had not chosen for either company yet. She was even considering inviting the Lius too. Dexter Liu and his wife were still an important part of the Jungs' history. Not even for her dad, but for Krystal too. Her family history was etched in her personality and her soul.    
On top of that, she liked to have a talk with miss Olympia Liu herself. She wanted to see what kind of person she was; wanted to see if she could overpower her; wanted to test if there were any weaknesses and if she could take advantage of them. The idea of bringing down Olympia Liu excited her more than anything else and was the only thing that could bring a bright smile on her face nowadays. Olympia's sour face at the sight of the enormous number of important guests who would be attending Rilex's 40th-anniversary party made her heart beat faster. 

It was one of the few things that made her heart beat faster. It was the only thing she lived for, or so it seemed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter 'till Amber appears.... Whoaaaaah! You guys ready yet? hahaha! Also: of course Amber does not have a sister called Olympia, but I just couldn't use Jackie for this because Jackie is wayyyy too sweet of a human being! Now I could create my own little evil character, hehehe! In this story, Jackie won't be coming up, as I need Amber to be the eldest daughter of Dexter Liu!


	7. Wine & Whiskey • 2

Click, clack, click, clack.   
Krystal's heels rhythmically met the floor every time she strode forwards.   
Click, clack, click, clack.  
The doors of the lift opened and Krystal got in. She scanned her employees' card and the doors of the lift closed; the right floor immediately lighted up on the control panel. Even though the lift was made out of glass, Krystal did not feel the least unsafe. As the elevator shot upwards to the highest floor of the building, Krystal turned around to look at what was hers. From the elevator, she could see the Great Hall in all its glory at this early hour in the morning.   
The welcoming hall of Rilex Internationals' Headquarters was already buzzing with life. By now, the employees started to come in, since it was already twenty-five past eight. In five minutes, their shifts would go in, which was why the puffing red-cheeked, suited monkeys walked way faster than they would normally do. They needed to make it in time, otherwise, they'd get a shot.  
Krystal watched them as the lift brought her up, feeling rather indifferent towards them. They were people she saw daily, talked to daily, but there was nothing interesting to be told about them. They went to work every day and rushed the last few minutes not to be late, spent 8 hours behind their desks doing whatever and then went back home. Most of them had families. Husbands, wives, children, perhaps a dog or two. They lived like that day in day out. It almost felt like she was watching people on a screen. You could see them, feel with them and watch them. But they were not real. Played personas, cartoon characters with a voice that belonged to someone else. They were the followers that a leader needed, but only because they would blindly do as they were told, not for any other beneficial reason, as they were as dumb as a box of rocks. Krystal needed them to do the dirty work but deep down and she always praised them for their work but deep down, she despised all of them. She couldn't help it. They were on such another level - literally and figuratively - than her, that it was hard to emphasize with them. 

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. A robotic womanized voice told her that she had arrived at floor 19.   
Floor 19 was completely reserved for the chief executive officer, her personal assistant and meeting rooms. Even Rilex's Board was one floor lower. When she got out of the lift, she immediately encountered David's desk, who was already filled with the broad-shouldered young man. Somehow, he always managed to be at work earlier than her. It was a bit off-character. David happened to be pretty laid-back most of the time and him being at work before her somehow pleased and annoyed her at the same time.   
"Good morning, Miss R! Coffee? The usual?" he chimed. Krystal nodded curtly to him and left to her office, not being able to send his enthusiasm at near half past eight in the morning.   
She had just settled and had just opened her laptop when David came in with a white mug of damping black coffee. He placed it on the right corner of my desk. The earthenware made a clinking sound when it came in contact with the thin glass plate.   
"I just wanted to say that the party planner will be here around ten o'clock. I have booked the small meeting room for two hours and have made sure that you are scheduled out for all your other appointments for at least an hour after that, in case you'll need more time," David informed.   
"Make it three, I want to get it done by today," Krystal replied, without looking up from her screen. She typed in her rather long password and went straight on to Excel.   
"Want me to reschedule Mr Quinn? You were supposed to have an appointment with him at half past twelve. I can also inform him that the appointment will simply take place half an hour later."  
"Let it be but make sure he is aware that we cannot start at strictly half past twelve. I do not want any of the appointments to be rescheduled for the next day."  
"Sure thing, boss!" David smiled. "Anything else before I go?"  
"No, you're dismissed."  
David left the room, leaving Krystal in her little five-by-five-metre cocoon. The damp of the coffee soon triggered her nose and even though it had not cooled down enough to drink yet, she still took it up and brought it to her lips. The coffee burned her gullet. By now she was used to it and it did not hurt anymore. 

The party planner knocked on the door to her study a quarter early. He was a static, rather dull man, whose hair was as grey as his suit. He always had a straight back but loving eyes. He was the perfect kind of man who liked to listen, as was required from him when it came to his job. He was called Nick Mayer and was of German heritage. He still has a small accent, which was the only noticeable thing about the guy. Krystal would never have taken a look at him if he was not in charge of Rilex's 40th-anniversary party.   
"Come in," Krystal said.   
"Good morning, Ms Jung," he greeted her submissively when he entered. She looked up and nodded, as a way of replying to him.   
"Let us go one of the meeting rooms. That will be much more comfortable than staying here," Krystal said. She stood up and went before him to one of the available spaces. She opened the door to the room that David had selected for them by scanning her employees' card.   
Rilex's meeting rooms were nothing special. There was a large window that could be darkened if needed to be. A large, rectangle-shaped table with rounded ends was placed in the middle of the room. As this was one of the smaller meeting rooms, the table was just large enough to bear six chairs. The larger ones had tables that easily fitted fourteen. Above their heads hung a projector which pointed at the single white wall.  In the corner were even a few whiteboards, since there sadly still were a few elder employees that did not know how to open a PowerPoint presentation without having to look for the right buttons first.   
"Please sit down," Krystal said, as she took her place at the head of the table. Mayer sat down on the left from her and immediately started up his laptop. Only a few minutes later he connected it wirelessly to the projector above and showed the first dia of his ideas. 

The meeting definitely took up more than two hours and Krystal was glad Mayer had shown up earlier. The extra time was needed, even though they did not have to talk through much anymore. The overall theme and decorations had already been chosen in one of the previous meet-ups. The only thing that needed revising was the guests' list.   
"So, if I understand correctly, each guest is allowed to bring two more?" Nick Mayer said as he took his glasses off to look Krystal in the eye better. She wondered why so, as he probably could see better with his glasses.   
"I suppose each of them would like to bring their wife and maybe a child. If we expect each of them to bring two guests, we will be able to receive unexpected guests too," she replied. With big festivities like this, there were always some guests who either brought too many or too few guests with them. Most of them appeared together with their wife or husband, but there were also quite a few who liked to bring other relatives or soon-to-be-CEOs. Krystal did not want to send anyone away, but she neither wanted to throw away too much money in investing in too many people. If each of them was allowed to bring two extra guests, which most did not, she was able to seat most other unexpected guests.   
The party planner took a note and nodded.   
"Now, if you would just look through the list one more time…" he muttered, as he handed her the printed piece of paper with the names. There were over two hundred, but Krystal scanned them quickly. Within minutes, she handed it back.   
"You do not want to make any alternations?" he asked her. Krystal shook her head.   
"It's exactly how I want it to be."  
"Are you sure you want to invite Olympia Liu to the feast?"  
Krystal shot him a foul look, which caused Mayer to look away immediately.   
"I am very much aware of the people I am inviting. I do not need anyone to tell me whom I can and cannot invite," she hissed.   
"Yes, of course, Miss…" he muttered quickly. He started collecting his stuff, only to stuff them way to hastily into his back. Mayer put away his laptop without even shutting it off. "I will immediately start to lay out the groundwork for the invitation cards. You will also receive a schedule for the other preparations within a week."  
Krystal nodded sternly, her irritation-level still high. She took the last sip of her coffee and stood up to shake his hand. A little shakily he took hers and shook it quickly. He let go and immediately averted his eyes.   
"I will wait with anticipation for the schedule. Also, let me know when any changes have to be made. I want to be fully informed about everything; even the colour and the type of flowers that will be used are of importance to me, so I expect frequent updates, daily if necessary."  
Mayer nodded. "Yes, of course, Miss."  
Krystal gave a quick, short nod before walking towards the doors, the party planner quickly following behind. Like the little ass kisser he was, he wanted to shake her hand one more time before he left, yet he still couldn't look her properly in the eye. Krystal could not help to feel a bit content at that.   
After a formal goodbye, she retreated to her office. The rest of the day went smoothly, as Rilex Internationals was running smoothly as well. 

It took another two and a half months before the anniversary of Rilex would be celebrated, but the time went by fast. She looked forward to seeing the result since the big party was the only thing that made Krystal's life a little less boring than usual. She spent a lot of time making sure everything was perfect; roses in the colour of Rilex Internationals' colours, white and Bordeaux red; a banquet with two entrees, a main course and a dessert; a walking buffet afterwards with the most delicious tiny bites; a dance floor which will also be used for waltzing; a stage on which she would be giving a speech; three bars with corresponding lounge seats; and last but not least: waiters and waitresses serving her guests with style and mindfulness. Everything needed to be perfect. Everything was going to be perfect, as Krystal Jung did not take anything less than perfect for an answer. 

In the span of those few months, Krystal received confirmations of all of her guests. Every single one of them had let her know that they would be attending and Krystal was pleased to know that they found her empire important and powerful enough to come to the party. There was only one confirmation that was still lacking. Olympia Liu had not reacted upon her invitation. Krystal could not help to feel a little bit smug and a little irritated about that at the same time. Was she too intimidated to even reply? Or did she think of Rilex as too little of a competitor to even come?   
There were only a few days before the anniversary of Rilex Internationals and by then, Krystal was all fixated on getting everything on the feast right. She was checking the delivery times of the roses again when someone knocked on her door.  
"Come in," she said, without looking up from her laptop. David popped his head around the mahogany wooden door.   
"Miss, there is someone here for you," he said, his voice a little hesitant. Krystal looked up, her eyebrows pulled up uninterestedly.   
"They do not have an appointment. Send them away."  
"Yes, I know.. it's just, I would have, you know - but, ehmm…-"  
"Say it, David," she barked at him.  
"They're here from Liu Industrials."  
Krystal stiffened. For a moment, she doubted whether to send them away either way. But the thought of seeing Olympia Liu's head in person filled her with an excitement she had not felt a long time ago.   
"Let them in."  
"Right away, Miss," David said, and he disappeared again.   
Krystal didn't even have any time to close her laptop before the door was opened again. The powerful swing made the doorknob slam against the wall, which caused her eyebrows to knot immediately. Krystal looked up, her insides already boiling, only not to find Olympia Liu.   
There was another woman standing in front of her. Her whole appearance was simply off. It did not belong to the world Krystal lived in and she immediately felt a burning hatred for the person standing in front of her.   
The first thing she noticed were the deep black eyes, staring mischievously at her from under her dark hair that was just long enough to fall over her eyebrows. Her skin was tanned, unlike Krystal's, and her smile arrogant; self-satisfied; cheesy almost. As if she knew stuff that Krystal did not - which was not possible, of course. There was a fresh, little cut on her lower lip; the wound had not dried up and turned dark brown yet but had stopped bleeding. Her whole outfit was simply black. Black ripped jeans, black Dr Martins that reached up her calves and a black Guns N' Roses tank top that displayed her tattooed arms. She could even see some curling up her neck. Her ears were pierced multiple times, with a tunnel in each ear as the cherry on top. The woman looked almost like a criminal and Krystal could not help to gaze down and check whether her shoes had stained the floor. They had not.   
"Who are you?" she barked. "I am expecting someone from-"  
"Liu Industrials," the woman in front of her chuckled. "Did you really think Olympia was going to deliver the message herself?"  
Krystal's cheeks flared. "What is her answer, then?" she said through clenched teeth.   
"She declines. My sister has no intention of coming to Rilex. Who can blame her? She would have been thrown into the lion's den."  
"Your sister?" Krystal said slowly, pronouncing - almost tasting - every syllable.   
The woman rose her left eyebrow mockingly. "Oh my, you don't know who I am, do you?"  
Krystal tensed the muscles in her jaw. She could feel her teeth grinding over each other.   
"Should I?" she answered indifferently, trying to brush off the fact that she indeed had no idea who was standing in front of her. My sister…   
A feeling told her that she ought to know, even though the woman looked like nothing of her interest. The tattoos, the pierced ears, the twinkling dark eyes that seemed too wise for her age and the mocking grin that she had seen the jocks in high school wear so many times.   
"I had thought that you would have known everything about my family, Miss Jung. It almost feels awkward to introduce myself," the woman chuckled, quasi-dramatic. "Amber Liu, to your service."  
Krystal's eyes narrowed.   
"Dexter Liu's eldest daughter? Amber Liu?"  
"In the flesh," the woman - or Amber - laughed.   
"I thought you were-"  
"A myth? A legend?" Amber snickered. "I know it all. But no, I am real and yes, I am involved in Liu Industrials, as many might not believe."  
Krystal sat back in her chair and pushed up her chin, enforcing her already arrogant vibe. She rose one of her eyebrows.   
"And Olympia lets her older sister run errands for her? How pathetic," she hissed. Amber noticed the change in behaviour. Her eyes seemed almost to darken, although they were already pitch black from themselves.   
"Whereas my sister likes to hide behind her large walls, I like to check out the competition first. And I know you like to too, otherwise you would have never invited us to Rilex's anniversary party."  
Krystal huffed.   
"Sadly, you are not coming. It's a shame, is it not," she said slowly. The corners of Amber's mouth curled up a bit more. It reminded her of a villain's smile.   
"It is. I would have loved to learn more about you."  
All the alarm bells in Krystal's head started ringing. With tensed muscles, she pushed herself away from her desk and stood up. Amber stayed exactly where she was but followed her with an amused look. Krystal slowly came near. Her heels slowly clicking on the white floor. Her heart seemed to beat at the same pace her feet walked. She stopped when she was only two metres away from Amber Liu. Krystal noticed as she looked straight into her eyes, that Amber's gaze was flying up and down over her body for a split second, before returning the gaze.   
"If there's anything else Miss Liu would like to let me know, then say so. Otherwise, there is no reason for you to be here anymore."  
"No, but I want you to know that, unlike my sister, I look forward to the next time we meet, Miss Jung. It was my pleasure," Amber answered with a satisfied little smile. "You're already so much more than I had expected."  
And with those words, Amber Liu turned around and left the office, leaving a heated CEO of Rilex Internationals with a burning feeling inside her stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeeeeeey, Amber's first appearance in the story! Are you guys happy, are you guys excited? I know that I am! Let me know what you guys thing! I have altered a few of Amber's tattoos but it'll just fit better in the story! I also need to apologize to you guys because the next chapter will not contain Amber again, haha. But I promise you that she will return quickly after that and once she starts to get in touch with Krystal more, she will be there every chapter! Please bear with me and the story!   
> Also, from now on I will be posting only once a week. This because I'm in my final year and I have to study a lot! This week I have exams as well so I'll be very busy! I'll make sure the chapters are worth it, though! Perhaps I can start posting more frequently again when I'm done with my finals, who knows! For now, please just enjoy!


	8. Wine & Whiskey • 3

Every employee was given the day off when the day of the feast occurred. Most of them would help out with setting up the decorations or hauling the enormous number of tables to the Great Hall. Everyone had their job and it was Krystal's to make sure everything went smoothly. Together with Nick Mayer, they paraded throughout the Great Hall, making sure that everything was in place and otherwise corrected. It all went according to her plan, which pleased her.  
Around four in the afternoon, Krystal went home to prepare herself for the feast. She left the final preparations in the hands of Mayer - which she was a little bit sceptical about, but with hourly updates she had decided that she'd manage not being on location all the time - and hoped for the best. By then most decorations had been placed, the tables had been carried inside and the dance floor and all the equipment had been installed. The cooks just needed to prepare the food now, the waiters and waitresses needed to be instructed and make sure the tables were prepared and the security needed to be in place. The party would start at promptly seven o'clock, not a minute later. The guests would arrive at six. Her speech would start the moment everyone was seated, preferably a little earlier than the schedule.

Krystal's outfit for that night existed of a black dress and heels that would make her feel taller than any man in the room. There were no arms but the dress fitted close to her neck, which accentuated her shoulders and face. On top of that, it hugged her figure and because it hid her somewhat bony hip bones, the dress made her actually look better than ever. The dress was simple yet fashionable. Her mask was Bordeaux red, in honour of the colours of Rilex, with black lace to add a little style to it. Her hair had been pulled back into a tight knot.  
Normally she did not go out on make-up on a normal working day, but tonight her eyes were heavily darkened. Black eye-shadow, black eye-liner and mascara. Her contours were stressed, giving her face an even sterner look. Tonight, she kept her lips slightly pink, unlike the bloody red colour that they usually were. All in all, she looked even more powerful than on a normal day. And that was exactly the goal Krystal had set for herself, as she wanted everyone in the hall to be amazed by Rilex's empire. Her empire.

She left her apartment at a quarter to six. Around six she arrived at Rilex Internationals' Headquarters. A whole queue had formed in front of the large entrance doors, to Krystal's delight. Fancy looking men, most of them with a round belly, in smokings, with beautiful, younger ladies hanging on their arms. The most beautiful dresses in all kinds of colours were presented in the line, with the glistering of diamonds and pearls on fingers, wrists, necks and ears to make the women eye even more beautiful. The more dresses Krystal saw, the more she was convinced that each of these wives had tried to out-shine each other. Ten-thousand-dollar dresses were not uncommon in the world Krystal lived in.  
In front of the doors was a red carpet laid out, which was filled all the way up to the end of the pavement. The new guests barely had space to get out their cars. Those without an Uber driver handed their keys to the parking employees. An immense group of news reporters and photographers had gathered around the entrance, pushing each other away to get the best view from behind the barriers.  
The security was checking everyone's IDs and invitations prior to letting them in. She spotted Kai as well. He had his finger on his ear, probably pressing his earbud deeper into his ear to hear his colleague better through the tiny device. When her car rolled up on the driveway, he looked up, obviously recognizing the car. As the professional he was, he turned around after a couple of seconds, not granting Krystal a glance. She was glad he did that.  
Krystal' Uber driver dropped her off in front of the entrance. She got out of the car, put her mask in place and walked with confident strikes towards the entrance. The guards immediately recognized her, but her partners and clients only noticed who the bold young lady dressed in black was until she was let in without having to show her ID or anything else. She turned around, right before entering Rilex's Great Hall to nod, wave and show a little smile. Her name was called by the news reporters and their photographers, trying to get a good shot of the successful, young chief in office before she'd disappear inside as well as her guests. She granted them a glance while a small, self-indulged smile decorated her face, then turned around to head inside.

A handful guests had already managed to get inside, most of them still waiting at the reception to be shown to their tables by the dozens of waiters and waitresses. Those who were already seated, were talking contently with each other. Everyone was already wearing their mask, but Krystal recognized them all within a split second. A good CEO always knew the names of the people that mattered.  
Contently, she looked around the Great Hall. The stage was all set up, with an enormous screen behind it. Right now, it showed the emblem of Rilex on a black background: a fox's head in curly grey lines. The fox looked like it was made of rusted metal, like the fox's head on the gates in front of Jung Mansion. There was soft, classical music playing along with it.  
The dance floor was placed in front of the great stage. That would later serve as the place for the waltzing, as it was a tradition to do at the Rilex anniversaries. Her father had once started it and after his death, the previous Vice President and now Krystal herself had maintained it.  
The tables were already prepared; each of them had a couple of forks, spoons and knives per person, plus a wine glass and a water glass accompanied by a carafe with water. There were white roses on each table, placed in simple, see-through, red vases.  
She could hear the cooks and everyone else who belonged in the kitchen work hastily to finish the first couple of courses. The bartenders were either polishing their glassware or practiced making cocktails with flair.  
Everything seemed to be in place and Krystal felt almost emotional knowing how much effort had gone into this. But she did not let a tear escape her eye. Instead, she started searching for her Vice President, Lee Taemin. He was supposed to help her around and keep an eye on the overall schedule. Of course, she knew it by heart as well, but it was easy to lose the track of time especially when you were serving as overall host during the evening. Whenever she was speeching, he was always in the front row, telling her how much minutes she still had. He was her right hand, as so to say.

Krystal eventually spotted him near the stage. He was dressed in a white tuxedo with a simple white mask. It made his ebony wooden skin stand out even more. The heavy contrast between his clothes and skin made him appear even more handsome than usual. He was talking to the stage director and two people of the technical team, probably talking everything through once more before I would hit the stage. For this speech, they had prepared special graphics to go along with her words and they needed everything to be timed perfect for her words to have the hardest impact. On top of that, they needed to adjust the lighting and the sound accordingly too. She definitely did not want her mic to suddenly drop out while she was in the middle of her speech.  
She walked towards the small group and was immediately greeted.  
"Ah, Miss Jung, so nice to see you!" the stage director, a man named Minho, immediately hummed. She nodded curtly in his direction, then turned to Taemin.  
"Everything's going according to the planning?"  
"We're even ahead a couple of minutes, what about that," Taemin grinned. Krystal nodded agreeingly.  
"No problems so far?"  
"Not a single one. Everyone knows their instructions. The guests seem happy already. I also checked in on the kitchen staff and the appetizers have already been prepared. It's basically all set," Taemin answered.  
Krystal nodded slowly. She was content, knowing that all her hard work eventually had resulted in a smooth development of the evening. It was rather weird that she needn't even correct anything. She was used to picking out the flaws and directing people to improve them. Now that there was nothing left to do, she almost felt out of use.  
"Good work, gentlemen," Krystal said, after a few moments of silence. She eyed all of them individually. Taemin. Minho. Mayer. Each of the men seemed happy at receiving that compliment after all those hard words prior to the party.  
"I suppose I will study my lines a little bit further. If anyone needs me, I'll be backstage," she said to all of them, then turned directly to Taemin. "Contact me if anything goes wrong."  
Her Vice President nodded solemnly and Krystal left the group of men alone to resume their jobs. Minho tagged along as she walked backstage.

An hour went by. By now, the Great Hall of Rilex Internationals was filled with two hundred important guests and all the staff that was needed to give them the best evening possible. Krystal sometimes peeked through the curtains, looking at her clients and partners having a good time. Everyone had gotten their drinks and first appetizer now. The entrance doors would soon close and everyone would take in their place.  
Krystal was revising the last bits of her speech, uneasily pacing around backstage whilst Minho made sure everything was in place and working. She was always a bit worried, even though she had practiced it countless of times. It wasn't like she couldn't speak in front of a great crowd - she basically had to do that on a daily basis - but it wasn't like it was her favourite thing to do. On top of that, she always feared something would go wrong. Minho assured her that everything was tested at least a dozen times, but the anxiety stayed buried in Krystal's stomach, making her nauseous.  
She put in her earbud, only to hear Taemin tell her that the final guests had arrived a couple of minutes later. She'd wait another few minutes so they could be seated and have their entrée and wine before she'd get up the stage. Krystal signed Minho to come over to her.  
"Play the video and start the timer," she told him. He nodded towards her and immediately ran off towards his technician. Within less than a minute, the lights in the Great Hall dimmed and an astonished 'aah' erupted from the crowd.  
The emblem of Rilex disappeared from the screen and instead the head of a fox appeared on screen. A real animal, this time. The animal turned around, facing the camera now. His look was intelligent, knowing, for as far as animals' eyes could be considered that.  
The sound of fresh snow collapsing under weight appeared when the fox moved. He turned his head, facing the white cover of frozen water particles underneath him. He stayed still for a long time. The crowd was silent too, aside from the usual clinking of the glasses when they were put back on the table again.  
The fox suddenly jumped up and ran back towards the forest. His probably hours-long journey was reduced to a few seconds, until it would arrive to its den. A few small cubs welcomed their parent with so much joy and little squeals that the audience let out a content sigh. Baby animals were always warmly welcomed in the hearts of people, it was not any different for CEOs.  
When the fox left its den, Krystal appeared on stage. All eyes were suddenly on here. More than two hundred pair of blue, green, grey, brown and hazel coloured eyes. Each of them expected utter perfection from her. And of course, each of them would receive nothing but perfection.  
She looked down to her shoes until she arrived at her podium table. It was made out of a beautiful dark mahogany wood, as was much of the rest of Rilex's interior. The mic on it was already installed and on, Minho told her through her earbud. When she stopped in front of it, she heard her own breath through the speakers. Luckily the fox was still moving and the sound of snow collapsing underneath its body weight was louder than her short, fast breaths.  
Krystal looked up at the same moment the fox's attention was caught.  
"I want to thank you all for coming. I truly am grateful to see such a big crowd honouring Rilex Internationals," she started. A modest wave of applause arose from the audience and she smiled tightly, unable to lift the corners of her mouth more for people she did not know and hardly cared about. The fox now started running, as it had caught up on something. Perhaps the faint patter of a field mouse's feet underneath the snow; a rabbit hopping through the snow or the almost silent strikes of a bird landing on a low-hanging tree branch.  
"My father was an extraordinary man," Krystal begun. "Many of you might know him. Others might only know Samuel, or even just me. Rilex has grown in the time my father has been away. I am sure we have made him proud, you and I."  
A small smile formed on her lips. Anyone that knew her would see it was not genuine. But no one knew her well enough in this room to see that. Not even those closest to her. If only she would know that a deep pair of dark eyes did see. They were watching her in interest; an interest that was not easily provoked by someone. Krystal did not see. The crowd was smudged together to a dark mass.  
The video switched to a bunny. Its ears were tensed, trying to locate from which way the sound of paws slamming into the frozen ground were coming from. Here, in the middle of the tundra, the sound echoed across the whole valley. They seemed to come from everywhere.  
"That is what Rilex is about. Completing my father's dream. I would not have been here if I had now wanted to honour him. I also would not have been here if Rilex didn't have the potential to grow. Only in two years, we have accomplished so much and we will continue to reach more of our goals in the future."  
The fox was only a few metres away and jumped forwards. The rabbit saw its enemy too late and tried to flee, but with a gracious leap the fox landed on top of its prey. The white snow coloured red and within moments, the fox had caught the bunny. A sound of distress went through the audience, as they saw the predator carry its food back towards the forest,  
"My father's legacy will grow, I can ensure every single one of you that. How much and in what time, I will not be able to tell. But I know for sure that anything standing in my way will soon be cleared out."  
When the fox was almost back to its den, another set of feet could be heard thundering upon the ground. Heavier feet. More feet. The fox only hesitated for a second, but it was long enough for the group of wolves to appear through the close-set pine trees. With the rabbit clenched between its jaws, the fox started to run. With paws longer than his, the wolves soon caught up and it quickly became a battle of wits instead of strength.  
The fox changed its course, so that the wind would not carry his smell anymore. Hiding underneath a bush, the wolves rushed past only a matter of seconds later, completely oblivious that their prey, and their prey's prey, has outsmarted them.  
"Rilex will rise to the top no matter what. We will devour anything in our path to ensure that and we will not back up for anything." Krystal closed her eyes, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is how we honour Chester Jung; by creating the biggest and most powerful empire the world has ever known."  
Krystal finished her speech and opened her eyes at the same time an eruption of applause thundered through the room. The large walls echoed it back, causing the sound to be even louder. She was met by a standing ovation. People were laughing, people were cheering, people were howling, people were screaming. And Krystal took in it with a sense of pride growing in her stomach. Because this was her empire, this was her legacy. And no one was going to bring this down.  
Soon, Liu Industrials would fall. Krystal would make sure of that, oh, yes she would.

A twinkle had appeared in the two dark eyes. Covered between a black mask, they were barely able to be seen. But Krystal was drawn towards them nevertheless. And from the stage, she could just see a person getting up from their seat and walking off.  
At that time, it was not important enough for her to think about it long. Perhaps she would have connected the eyes to the person sooner if she had thought about it better. Only she did not and the eyes were soon forgotten.  
Krystal got off stage and the emblem of Rilex Internationals appeared back on the screens. The applause would not end for another few minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back at moving slowly again... Hope y'all can still bear with me and the story! It will get more interesting in the next few chapters!


	9. Wine & Whiskey • 4

The evening passed without any difficulties. After Krystal’s speech, she was directed to her own table, which she shared with her Vice President Lee Taemin and her Board members. Besides Krystal and Taemin, the Board consisted of two older men and a woman, making a total of five Board members. One of the men was Samuel Jacobs, Rilex’s ex-Vice President when her father was still alive. When her father died, he took over Rilex, as Krystal’s mother was not capable of leading such a large corporate. He stepped down the moment Krystal had obtained her PhD in Economics and was ready to take over. She would have loved to have him as her Vice President, but he had declined her offer, for he reckoned that Rilex needed some fresh blood to run the company. Lee Taemin had become her Vice President instead but Samuel had stayed in the Board nevertheless. Krystal was glad to have an ‘old rod’ on board, as he was the only one on the Board with decades of experience. Krystal and Taemin only just got started. Taemin might be a few years older than she was, yet he still was experienced a youngster by the elder employees, even though his position was higher than theirs.  
The other man on the Board was called Ivan Olsen. Having migrated to South Korea from Denmark when he was in his mid-twenties, he had never managed to lose his accent. Aside from Samuel, he was the eldest on the team, but had about as much experience in leading a company as Taemin. Nevertheless, his cold appearance made him look like he knew what he was talking about most of the time and until now he has never been wrong. His eyes were icy blue and his skin milky; it was even paler than Krystal’s. He had blonde hair but it was constantly combed back and forced to stay flat on his head, making him look bald. He was a stylish kind of guy, which was something Krystal liked about him. With his straight posture, independent behaviour and sceptical looks, he reminded her much of herself.  
Victoria Song was besides Krystal the only woman on the Board. Her mocha coloured skin, black hair and dark brown eyes were beautiful. High cheek-bones and full lips completed the picture. She was in her early thirties and she was probably the human definition of the proverb: ‘Still waters run deep’. Victoria barely says anything, but when she does, it’s mostly to point out any critical points. As a woman, she knows what it’s like to work in a male-dominated business world, which is why she lets Samuel, Taemin and Ivan talk first before pointing out their flaws. Victoria is usually the one with the last call and Krystal finds herself agreeing with her a lot. She is smart and used to be a scientist, which gives her a special way of looking towards things. And even though Krystal was not a peoples’ person, she and Victoria hit it off pretty well. It wasn’t like they saw each other outside of work, but if she had to name the employee that she was closest with, then it’d be Victoria Song. 

At a little past nine, all the deserts were taken away. Some of the guests were still getting coffee, but a lot of them simply headed for the bar. On their way to the bartenders – who were giving the guests a small show by tossing their cocktail mixers into the air and catching them several times before pouring the drink – most of them stopped at Krystal’s table.  
There was CEO Arya, who had flown in from India to attend Rilex’s 40th-anniversary. He was and old man and hair had turned grey already, yet he had never started to grow bald. His wife was clothed in beautiful, flowery traditional clothes which suited her more than any dress ever would. Both of them greeted Krystal warmly, which Krystal replied with a nod and a polite little smile.  
The second executive Krystal was rather fond of, was a young woman. She was probably one of the tiniest people Krystal had ever seen, but her bright personality made up for that. Amelia Thomas had only recently started her own business but it had grown out to a nation’s favourite in less than five years. It was the only corporate Rilex owned that had anything to do with fashion. Amelia’s company, Deliberation, focussed on making clean make-up products from, for example, algae. Many people seemed to like it and buy it, which was why Rilex was quick to claim Amelia’s business. Nowadays, she often dropped by to personally hand over her sales’ record, which grew bigger every month. The tiny woman was a hand full most of the times, but even Krystal had to admit that her enthusiasm was addictive.  
Several managers from the USA and the UK had flown in too, each of them stuck-up white men who still liked to attend her about how to run Rilex. They seemed to wear the same suits and their women were all skinny blondes with blue eyes. Krystal despised them all, but she needed them, which was why she sometimes had to swallow her sharp words. Even though their companies were entirely controlled by Rilex, they still could pull out from under the contract if they gathered enough money to buy them out. Yet, she could not help to show her discontent whenever one of them made it over to her table to comment how beautiful she looked tonight. Of course, she looked beautiful. Krystal was beautiful. But it was the least important aspect of her being CEO of Rilex Internationals, which was something many tended to forget. Sometimes she toyed with the idea of just firing them all and to put her own little pioneers in their positions. But that would be foolish. A leader needed their crowd to be at peace and a crowd was the most peaceful when they thought their ideas and opinions actually mattered. They did not. That was also something they failed to see, but it at least their tranquillity benefited Krystal. 

It took at least another half an hour before most of the people were seated again. In the meantime, Krystal had changed seats. The Board was now shattered all across the Great Hall and to avoid getting embarrassed by sitting alone, she made her way over to the lounge seats. There were several round lounge couches stationed in the corner of the Hall, with a small coffee tables in the middle. Most of them were already occupied by families or groups of friends and Krystal wanted to head for one of the empty ones, when she heard a familiar voice ringing over the low grumbling of the human mass.  
Krystal turned around and was barely prepared for the woman to run towards her with open arms. Astonished by the sudden hug, she was unable to move. Only when the brunette let her go, she was able to breathe.  
“Krystal Jung, I swear you get prettier every day.”  
Krystal looked up – she had forgotten how tall she was – and smiled. It was less tight than usual, but the feeling felt a bit weird upon her lips. She huffed.  
“Says the one who recently signed at a modelling agency.”  
The woman, which Krystal knew as Amaia Fournier, couldn’t help but to grin. The tall woman was a daughter of a successful CEO, just like Krystal was. Only her father was still alive and Krystal’s wasn’t. They kind of grew up together. When Dexter Jung had passed away, however, Krystal had completely dedicated her life to her studies and her contact with Amaia had disappeared slowly. Now they only saw each other on parties like these. Whilst Amaia could pursue a different kind of career – one that she really wanted to – before she would arise as head of her father’s company, Krystal was running one of the biggest internationals in the world. Sometimes she envied Amaia’s great amount of spare time, but that jealousy was quickly forgotten when she realised that she had achieved her dreams already at the ripe age of 26. Why would one get jealous of another’s life if they had not achieved anything yet?  
When Krystal peeked over her shoulder, she noticed that the other daughters were sitting on the same couch Amaia had been. She recognised their faces. Soon-to-be-CEOs or soon to be married off. Some were fortunate enough to be born as the first child and inherit the company, like Krystal and Amaia. Others were first-borns but the company was still passed down to a brother and others had never been in line to lead anyway. Either way, most of them still had a high position within their family’s company. And with Rilex hovering above them all, Krystal knew their names by heart. Yet, only Amaia had ever been the one who spoke so freely and informal to her. Krystal didn’t know whether she found it annoying or pleasing. Perhaps both.  
Still, she sat down next to Amaia and the other women. With all eyes immediately turned to her, she felt like a leader once more. And why would she not? Obviously, she was the most important person in the room. 

When everything had calmed down again, Taemin took his chance and climbed up the stage. Barely anyone noticed him, until he slightly tapped on the mic with the palm of his hand to see if it was working. Taemin cleared his throat, taking a few seconds until he had everybody’s attention. The happy chit-chatter of Rilex’s guests died off within seconds. All eyes were again pointed at the stage, only this time Krystal was able to sit back and enjoy it herself as well. Even though she would not admit, the speech had tired her out and she wasn’t planning on participating in any of the activities for the rest of the evening. In fact, now that all the formalities were over, she really wanted to go home. Of course, there was no way she could sneak out without being seen. She still needed to get by a lot of other acquaintances of Rilex. Throwing away an opportunity like this to strengthen Rilex’s bonds with the other corporates was a waste. Still, the thought alone tired her.  
“Excuse me,” Taemin started. He waited for the last conversations to die out before he continued, “Ladies and Gentlemen. I am Lee Taemin, Vice President of Rilex Internationals and on behalf of Miss Jung and myself, I would like thank everybody for coming once more. I hope everybody enjoyed the diner. For the rest of the evening, you can help yourself to something to drink or some snacks. But for now, I would like to invite everyone to the dance floor.  
As some of you might know, Dexter Jung used to be a fan of waltzing. At Rilex’s 5th-anniversary, it was first introduced. We would like to continue the tradition in honour of Dexter.”  
The disc jockey in the back of the room started the music at a dozen men and women appeared from behind the scenes. Like the true actors and actresses they were, they waved and blew hand kisses in the direction of the guests. One man even pretended to catch one, although Krystal was pretty sure it had come from one of the male dancers.  
They were lean, slender people. The women wore white flower dresses, which swirled around their legs as they were helped off the stairs by the men. Their partners wore white blouses tucked into their pants and a Bordeaux red vests. Their hair was slickened against their skulls and from a distance, you couldn’t even see they were different people. The men walked exactly the same way, wore the same outfits and smiled their white teeth brightly. It was almost as if she saw six pair of clones dance. The only difference between the couples was the hair of the girls, which variated from red to black.  
The performers danced on the song, which Krystal – for once – did not recognise. It must be a smaller or modern composer, she reckoned, as she knew every classic musician by heart, Wagner being her favourite. It was a delight to look at. The men swirled the women around, who shot secret glances at people in the audience. Her guests seemed to be enjoying themselves, as many eyed the dancers with enthusiastic sTaemin. 

The song had almost come to an end, when suddenly someone got up from the audience. A young girl. Perhaps fifteen or sixteen. Not yet full-grown but already showing the unmistakable curves that belonged to the female body. She still had braces and a youthful, cheeky glint in her eyes. Looking at her clothing, Krystal reckoned she must be the daughter of the Aryas. Her black hair was put up in a bun, which was decorated and held in place by orange silk. She was dragging a boy with her; a young man that she recognised as the follow-up of one of her Korean acquaintances. He was lanky, seeming too tall for his age. A bit uncomfortable, he let the girl – who was at least two heads smaller than him – drag him to the dance floor. She grabbed his hands and led them towards her hips before getting up on her toes so she could wrap her arms around his neck. They awkwardly started dancing along.  
It was clear that none of them had ever danced before. The girl seemed to pick up the pace faster than the boy, though, and even from Krystal’s table she could see that she was the one leading. Despite the young man’s unsuccessful attempts to dance along, the smile of the girl could not be wiped off of her face.  
The dancers suddenly started to take notice of the unfamiliar couple awkwardly dancing along to them and started to give them directions. Within minutes, they danced along to the rhythm and actually joined the dancers in their circle of twirling and twisting.  
After seeing that the two youngsters fit into the dance perfectly, more couples started to get up. Within minutes, the whole dance floor was loaded with guests. Old CEOs holding their wives. Teenagers and children. Colleagues. Even strangers, who had never met before but were willing to try just to be able to dance along. Krystal watched them with some sort of disgust. 

She was able to handle the clumsily dancing guests for a few minutes but eventually got up to leave. Right when she wanted to leave the table, her exit got blocked by the large belly of someone she recognised all too well. The smell of beer that came along was enough to make her stomach turn and her face scrunch up in disgust. Krystal looked up, right in the tiny pig’s eyes of Casper Green.  
Green was a filthy, greasy, enormous middle-aged man that probably looked more like a wild boar than a human. Hauled in a suit, he looked entirely out of place. His large belly almost made the buttons of his blouse jump. His hair was black and fell over his forehead in a little curl, slick with grease which made his fatty head even less appealing; something which Krystal had not thought would be possible. He had an enormous moustache, that would tingle every time the man smelled food. Because of his mask, his little eyes were accentuated even more.  
He was probably the most disgusting man Krystal had ever met and the perfect example why parents should first test their child’s skills before letting them be in charge of their life’s work.  
“Mr Green. What a pleasure,” she forced out of her mouth. The fatty man in front of her smiled, causing his black moustache to curl up in a way that Krystal did not want it to be. He took another large sip of his beer, which was poured in a glass as big as a carafe, and extended his hand to her.  
“Would you be interested in a dance, Miss Jung? Everybody else is seeming to have fun and it would be such a shame if the CEO of Rilex was not joining the festivities. It’s also, somewhat, your anniversary, is it not?”  
Krystal clenched her jaw together.  
“I don’t dance, but thank you for the invitation.”  
“Oh, come on! I know you know how to dance. I know Dexter taught you how, even though those lessons must have been a little difficult for a five-year-old girl. But now that you’re older, you probably can dance very well! I am a great dancer myself as well, so of course, I’d be willing to teach you, if you could just-”  
With every word that came out of his mouth, Krystal felt herself getting angrier and angrier. How dared he to belittle her like that? Was she not his boss? She did not let anyone else tell her what to do and if she declined, so be it. Krystal was boiling with rage and about to throw out a bunch of sharp, rather un-professional accusations, when someone cleared their throat. The sound came from behind Casper Green. At first sight, there was no one to be seen, which was not that surprising if you took note in how big Casper Green’s body actually was. The colossal man turned around, his greasy moustache lowering when he pressed his lips tightly upon each other and his bushy eyebrows knotting together.  
“Perhaps, Miss Jung would rather have interest in a dance with me?”  
“I was first, buddy,” Krystal heard Casper Green reply rudely. “And I’m sure she prefers dancing with me; a man who is working so close with her and Rilex Internationals. I do not recognise you, so you must be a representative of one of those tinier corporates.”  
By now, her curiosity had taken over. It was rare for new people to approach her, let alone someone of a smaller company. Krystal Jung was known for having an iron grip on her employees and every enterprise that worked under Rilex. Not many dared to doubt her or address her. It was extremely rare – it had actually never even happened before – that someone of a smaller company approached her. She did not know whether to feel amazed, curious or a tad disdainful. That person sure had some balls to walk up to her.  
On top of that… the voice sounded strangely familiar. Though, she did not manage to connect the voice to a face or even a name.  
Krystal stepped forward, so she did not longer had to peek over Casper Green’s big shoulders anymore, and her eyebrows shot up almost instantly. She quickly controlled her facial expression, trying to remain her neutral self. It shouldn’t surprise her that she did not know who the person in front of them was. But honestly, it shocked her a little bit, as she knew every name of every person attending the party. Had she forgotten someone? She at least needed to appear like she knew, which was why she quickly took control of her facial expression again. Her face grew neutral again; bored almost.  
The person did not seem to be affected by Casper’s harsh tone. Instead, they kept smiling a somewhat cocky smile. They did not even pay any attention to Casper Green but instead stared in Krystal’s direction the whole time, as if they hadn’t even heard Green talk to them. A pair of deep, twinkling dark eyes were focussed on hers from behind a simple black mask. They wore a black suit. Despite the simple design, Krystal recognised it as a Louis Vuitton, one that costed more that 4000 dollars. It helped to create broader shoulders than the person actually had and to emphasize their waistline. Together with that arrogant smile and sharp jawline, the person was actually quite attractive, even Krystal had to admit that. 

It took her a moment to realize Casper Green was staring at her as well, waiting for a reaction. His hopeful eyes betrayed that he wanted her to choose for him.  
“Like I said; I don’t dance,” she clarified once more, trying to get out from both of the two hopeful watches. Casper Green’s gaze softened, but the two deep dark eyes only twinkled more; as if it was one big game. The grin grew and Krystal did not know whether to think of it as endearing or annoying. Annoying, probably. She did not like to be questioned.  
“Of course, as you wish,” Casper Green hummed. “I wish you a wonderful evening.”  
“Likewise,” Krystal replied to him with a half-assed smile. Casper Green winked at her once – which was something she never ever wanted to see again – and left her alone. She had expected the stranger to do the same, but they kept in place, not moving any of their muscles. By now, the interested gaze started to make her nervous. Nervosity, on its turn, annoyed her. And irritation did not advance her mood.  
Now that Casper Green had left, Krystal could not help but to narrow her eyes at the newcomer.  
“And who are you, if I may ask?” she asked immediately. A low chuckle sounded through the air. It was soft; just loud enough for Krystal to hear.  
“Dance with me and you might find out.”  
Krystal scrunched her nose. She did not like games like these. In fact, she did not like games at all. And the way the stranger in front of her smiled – cheekily, as if they were barely older than a high school student – made her even more appalled of the idea of taking this dance. Krystal Jung was not to be played with, especially not by some sort of underdog from a new, small corporate.  
“What makes you think I am interested in your name enough to dance with you?” she said icily. The grin grew only bigger – how upsetting!  
“You wouldn’t have asked for my name otherwise, would you?”  
From the mischievous glint in the deep, dark eyes, Krystal could tell that they had long figured out that it annoyed her that she didn’t know their name.  
“One song. Then you’ll tell me your name afterwards,” Krystal said. She raised one of her eyebrows sternly, making clear she was not to be messed with. Still, the grin grew only bigger.  
“What makes you think I have to listen to you? I’m the one with wanted information. What can you offer me in return?” the stranger smiled.  
“A dance.”  
“That, and a drink. Whiskey, perhaps?”  
“I’m more of a wine person. And before I commit myself to anything, I’d like to know whether the name I’m getting is worth it,” Krystal replied neutrally. Of course, she would never have a drink with this person, but she liked to make them think they indeed had a chance. Perhaps it was just some suitor that wanted to capture her heart by acting all mysterious. In the end, his name would not even matter and she would be disappointed in herself that she had even taken the dance. Krystal was almost inclined to decline the proposal… almost.  
The thing that stopped her was the feeling of a déjà-vu, which grew stronger with every passing second. There was something about that voice, those eyes and that smile that reminded her of someone. Yet, she did not know who. It made her incredibly curious, for some reason. And… didn’t she ought to know all the names of her clients?  
Not knowing the stranger’s name was a flaw in her being and Krystal hated flaws. Did she not always strive for perfection?  
“Well, let’s find out then.”  
The person smiled widely – a smile that seemed to be too big for their face – and offered her their hand. Krystal looked at it warily for a few seconds.  
Nevertheless, she took it and together they walked towards the dancefloor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A: I just wanted to quickly thank everybody who is still following this story despite it moving so slowly haha. After this there will be one more chapter before Whiskey and Wine ends and after that I can ensure you that romance will blossom quickly! (Ah, I shouldn't spoil but I'm simply too excited!)


	10. Wine & Whiskey • 5

People stared at them. Some of them admiring, some of them judging, most of them confused. Krystal saw it all despite looking straight forward, but above all felt their eyes on her body. Now that she was holding the hand of a stranger, she could not help to feel self-conscious. What would they think of her, seeing her with a nobody like that? Dancing, even!  
Yet, the cheesy smile of the unknown person was enough to remind her of her goal; to acquire that name. Because once she had a name, she could do anything she wanted. And as far as she was concerned, she would dig deeply into the little corporate they were a representative from and either get them removed or call for drastic measures. She was not pleased to be made a fool like this in public by a newcomer. 

The other guests seemed to naturally form a path for them. No one dared to get in CEO Jung’s way. This was the only time that Krystal regretted having such an iron grip on her employees; they were so used to bow and cower before her that they immediately stepped away when she approached. Normally, it would not have mattered and she actually would have loved the obedience, but now she just wanted to disappear into the crowd. She did not want anyone to know that she danced with someone who did not matter. Her status was too high for that.   
“Nervous?” she heard a voice from beside her. Krystal rose one of her eyebrows sceptically.   
“Not in the slightest.”  
A soft, mocking chuckle was the reply she got, which made her clench her teeth. Let’s get it over with and get that name, so you can wipe that stupid grin off their face once and for all.   
They moved to the middle of the dance floor, in between the guests and the professional dancers. Krystal picked up on the music only then.   
“Tchaikovsky-” she muttered.   
“-Waltz of flowers,” the stranger finished her sentence. Again, her eyebrows shot up in suspicion, utterly surprised for a split second at the person’s knowledge of classical music. Before she could fully recover from her little shock, the stranger grabbed her by her hand. The spare hand was placed on her hip, pulling her closer with a swift motion, although rougher than was necessary. Their bodies collided together, which made the grin on the newcomer’s face grow even bigger. Krystal pulled up her nose yet placed her hand on their shoulder. Even with heels, the stranger was taller than she was, although only by a few centimetres.   
The stranger took the lead and Krystal followed, as a woman was supposed to do. She had to admit that it had been hard on her to follow someone else when she had started taking dancing classes, but after years of training ever so often, she had gotten the hang of it. By now, she danced like a pro. Yet, she could feel the eyes of her guests burn into her body as they followed their every movements and it unnerved her slightly. Still, the eyes of her guests were not as far as distracting as the pair of deep, dark eyes that were constantly taking her in from underneath the black mask. At all times, there was a tiny smile formed on their face.   
A lot of the guests even left the dance floor to watch the play go on – seeing one of the most powerful CEOs in the world dance like that was rare. If it was up to Krystal, it would never ever happen again after this as well. The dancers stayed to accompany them, though, which was a blessing Krystal appreciated very much – she would make sure to tip them well. 

The longer they danced, the more Krystal started to wonder who she was dancing with. The longer they danced, the more confused she became. Now that their bodies were pressed close together, she started to notice the smaller things.   
An almost invisible scar on their lower lip. A few hairs which had managed to escape from the hair products and now fell in front of their face; as little imperfections in the stranger’s perfect appearance. Black tattoos curling up on the back of their neck. An arrogant glint in the black eyes. Piercings in their ears. Even tunnels.   
The fluidity of the stranger’s motions was remarkable as well. Not as stiff and forceful as a man’s, yet not as gracious as a woman’s. Somewhere in between. Neither were their shoulders broad, but their waist did not betray much of an hourglass figure as well. And when their chests pressed together…  
“Who are you?” Krystal eventually asked, when The Waltz of Flowers had turned into Chopin’s Nocturne op.9 No.2, and that one had surpassed into Mariage d’Amour of Paul de Senneville.   
“Oh my, you don’t know who I am, do you? I cannot help to be offended by your lacking memory, Miss Jung.”  
Krystal stuck her chin in the air and let out a huff.   
“I can recognize every face in this room. I know all the names and all the details. You, on the other hand, are something else,” she stated. Even the voice sounded familiar… But whom it was, was still a mystery. It felt like she had all these loose puzzle pieces but did not know how to create the bigger picture.   
“Won’t that spoil the fun? You knowing my name... it’ll take away my air of mystery,” the stranger laughed.   
“If I let you keep that, would you tell me why you are here then?” she asked, deciding to play along with the game.   
“Why I’m here? I am on the guest list!” they exclaimed, with a quasi-shocked tone. Krystal sighed annoyed. The attitude of the stranger started to piss her off by now. Hadn’t she not promised to dance in exchange for a name?   
“So, you are simply here to attend the party and ask me to dance with you?” she said. “That seems unlikely.”  
“Who knows. I came here with a purpose, yes, but it would all depend on you how that would unfold.”  
Krystal squinted her eyes. “Then what is your purpose here.”  
The stranger laughed. It was a low laugh but tingling at the same time; one that made other people look over their shoulders to see who was having such a good time. But the way the corners of their mouth were pulled up gave it almost something devilish. Up to no good. A troublemaker.   
“I am here because of my sister.”  
Suddenly, all the warmth vaporized from Krystal’s body. She turned as white as a sheet as the realization hit her. Her eyes stared deep into those belonging to the person in front of her; she only got surer of her case seeing the cocky glance in their eyes. Quickly, she recaptured her neutral facial expression, but the damage had already been done. She had seen it.   
At once, it all made sense. The eyes, the voice, the smile, the appearance. Of course, it had felt familiar.   
“Who are you?” she asked warily.   
“By now, you must already know.”  
Krystal huffed and pulled up her nose. “Yes, Amber,” she growled through clenched teeth. A laugh was the reply she got, which only infuriated her more.   
“What are you doing here? Liu Industrials had declined my invitation,” she asked, trying to remain the uninterested, bored, tone in her voice. It was hard. Krystal always had trouble controlling her temper but until now it had never been so difficult.   
“Liu Industrials maybe. I did not. If I remember correctly, you invited the whole family, did you not?” Amber said nonchalantly. They still did not stop dancing. In fact, Amber grabbed her hand firmer, pressing their bodies more eagerly together. It made Krystal’s stomach turn.   
“You are part of Liu Industrials.”  
“Only when I feel like it. Only when it has something to offer. Which does not happen a lot, until a little while ago…” Amber hummed contently. She kept a close eye on Krystal, observing her face as the words left her mouth. Krystal tried her best not to move a muscle, obvious of the way Amber studied her like a biologist studies an animal. Remaining a neutral expression had never been so hard, as everything that Amber said was something that unnerved her. The woman seemed to be too much in her element. Krystal was usually the one with the witty answers and otherwise, she simply did not tolerate anyone talking back to her, but Amber Liu was not an employee and she had stated many times that she ‘did not give a fuck’ if you had to believe everything that was known about her online. The many headlines about Chester Liu’s eldest child were too many to count and none of them was anywhere close to positive.   
Krystal had never really paid any attention to her, as her younger sister was way more threatening to Rilex Internationals than Amber would ever be. But now she was dancing with her in the middle of a crowd to Vivaldi, answering her tricky questions with answers she knew would be used against her. It was easy to say she underestimated her, but it was too late now. There was no escaping this conversation, better to try to get some information herself as well.   
“And what might that be?” Krystal asked. Amber’s smile grew a little wider as if she had been expecting this question to appear. She rose her eyebrows, “Can I ask you how you are planning to bring down Liu Industrials?”  
Krystal clenched her jaws together. She wanted to look away, but as that felt like a personal failure, she kept staring into Amber’s deep, dark eyes. They were close to black now, with no distinction between the pupil and the iris. She did not know how to answer and to watch Amber grin so widely that all of her pearly white teeth were exposed. With a grudge in her stomach, she had to hear how Amber started to laugh.   
“My, my, Miss Jung. Are you going to tell me that you threatened Liu Industrials through your speech at the beginning of this evening and you have no clue how to actually do that?”   
The corners of Amber’s mouth were curled up in amusement and the little twinkle in her eyes was even more prominent than a few moments before. Krystal cursed herself, knowing damn well that she had given her exactly what she wanted. She was blowing her own chances more with every word that came out of her mouth; Olympia would know about this within minutes. Rilex had to embrace themselves for the filthy drama this would bring.  
“It’s the usual. Lead in more smaller corporates. Earn more money. Buy Liu Industrials. Make it part of Rilex’s network,” Krystal answered, trying to sound indifferent. The tone had never suited her much and the words now felt strange in her mouth. Of course, she knew it wouldn’t work; Liu Industrials was too big to be bought by a corporation of the same size. Either of them was powerful but none was rich enough to buy the other. And if one grew in size, the other did so too.   
“You know it will never go like that. Even if you manage to get enough money together, Olympia will never accept the deal. As you might know well, it takes two parties to make a contract valid.”  
“Are you just here to just point that out, Amber?” Krystal hissed back. Not being used to someone pointing out her flaws, she could not help her temper flaring up. Amber’s devilish grin shrunk to merely a smile.   
“Far from that, actually. I am here to help your poor unfortunate soul.”  
“Leave,” Krystal barked at her. Amber did not even budge or lean away. In fact, she cocked her head slightly, as if she were a difficult puzzle that needed solving. Krystal did not like her looking at her like that. And not just that: she did not like Amber Liu at all.   
“Are you saying that you don’t want my help? Don’t you want access to our vaults?” Amber asked slowly. She rose both of her eyebrows until they could be seen just above her mask.   
“Amber Liu, any person who falls for your charms is doomed. Do you really think I’m that stupid? No one betrays their own family.”  
Amber chuckled. Her eyes seemed to have darkened when she looked up to Krystal again. It was a sight that seemed to pull her even closer to the woman. It felt like she was getting engulfed in those eyes. Like black holes; nothing was able to escape from the tremendous mass that inhaled everything in.   
“Besides you. And that’ll make two of us.”  
She snapped back to reality. Krystal tensed the muscles in her jaws. A small huff left her mouth. A sudden angst crept upon her. Did Amber know about her mother, locked up in Jung Manor? Did she know or was it a shot in the dark because Krystal simply had zero contact with her other relatives? How much did this girl know and how much was she prepared to use that information against her?   
“Why are you so keen on selling out your family?” Krystal asked, avoiding Amber’s words, her eyes narrowing. It did not make sense, not even for someone who wasn’t at all involved in the company’s management. For people like them, the company was a symbol of the bond between family members. It was probably just some sort of way to get her to confess, she figured.   
“I have never been interested in Liu Industrials or this whole business world full of suited monkeys. And I am not keen on selling out my family, although I have to admit that my relationship is not good with any of them. There simply is something about you, Princess, that caught my attention. I tend to flutter towards the people who can give me something; make me better, as so to say. My family is done giving... or I might have taken everything from them that is worth taking already, depending on the way you look at it. The only thing I now get is money from my stocks in Liu Industrials. You, on the other hand, are full of possibilities.”  
Krystal did not know whether to feel honoured, surprised or disgusted. A mixture of all three had settled in her stomach. Her mind needed some time to process all of Amber’s words, which was why she at first focused on the easiest; the thing that disgusted her.   
“Do not call me that,” she growled.   
“What?”  
“Princess.”  
“Then how do you want me to call you?” Amber asked, a smile once again forming on her face. Krystal could not believe that she at first had been somewhat attracted to it. It was impossible to imagine now.  
“You know how.”  
“Fine then, Miss Jung,” the woman eventually sighed. Krystal nodded curtly, to sign that she approved. She cleared her throat.   
“And I am afraid that I have nothing to offer you, Amber. I will not give any of Rilex’s secrets up in exchange for information about Liu Industrials. I will have to decline your offer,” she replied. Krystal put up the voice she always used in meetings, indicating that she would not tolerate anyone to question her final decision. She would not risk anything of Rilex for some information, how helpful it might be. Even without that information, she would succeed in bringing down Liu Industrials… At least, she hoped.   
Amber tilted her head again, this time lifting only one of her eyebrows.   
“Did I ever mention that I wanted information about Rilex in return? My dear Miss Jung, that surely is not the case. And to prove my trustworthiness, I might offer you some data if you were willing to cooperate.”  
Amber stopped dancing and Krystal found herself to be a little disorientated until she noticed that the music had changed. The classical tunes had been switched to modern day songs. Almost everyone had left the dance floor again. The dancers were nowhere to be seen; they had probably left the dance floor when Krystal had not been paying attention. The only people who were still among them were the youth – children and other relatives of the originally invited people – who were eyeing them a little suspiciously by now. Krystal quickly left the dance floor, her cheeks somewhat scaling up a little bit. To her annoyance, Amber followed her steps closely.   
Krystal only stopped when she had reached safety; a place close to the lounge corner where no one was within a five-metre radius and they could finish their conversation in private. Krystal sighed in annoyance as she turned around.   
“I don’t think I will,” she answered curtly. “I would say that it isn’t personal but it is.”  
Amber seemed to have expected this kind of an answer, as she did not seem to be taken aback at all. Instead, she simply smiled and ran a hand through her hair. Krystal could not help to follow the movement of her hand. She ruffled it a bit, causing more strands to fall down from their original place and in front of her eyes. The old Amber returned bit by bit, the one with the tattoos and the piercings, the black Dr Martins and probably a closet full of leather jackets. The smoking fit her body, but it did not fit her personality. Yet she stood here in front of her, with no other goal than to convince Krystal to take her offer.   
Even Krystal Jung was intrigued by an act like that, even when it came from someone like Amber Liu. In the two times that they had met, the woman had left an impression never to forget.   
“Just think about it, Princess. I have nowhere to go,” she said. Before Krystal could complain about the little nickname Amber seemed to have developed for her, the other woman bowed down. She took her hand, as she had taken her hand before, and pressed a feather-light kiss upon the back of her hand. Krystal immediately stiffened. The feeling of Amber’s lips against her body made her skin burn, even when the short-haired female straightened her back again and watched her with an amused gaze.   
“You know where to find me if you change your mind,” Amber hummed. “Have a wonderful evening, Miss Jung.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Easter everybody! Enjoy the chapter and please look forward to the next update!


	11. Wine & Whiskey • 6

The rest of the evening had passed in a slur. Krystal’s concentration was very low and she found herself not having the energy to listen to the supposed-to-be-funny stories her clients were telling. She eventually managed to only go by half of the clients she had wanted to visit and she excused her own behaviour by telling herself that she was probably tired of organizing and playing host the entire evening. She promised herself that she’d come back to them, but in the days that followed, Krystal could find little motivation to have meaningless chit-chatter with people who actually did not matter.   
Although she had not expected herself to, she kept wondering about Amber’s words. The mysterious woman spooked through her mind like a ghoul, repeating the same promising sentences over and over again until it drove Krystal mad to a point in which she could not act rationally anymore. Her working pace was slowed down because she often found herself thinking; wondering; fantasizing about what’d happen if she’d take Amber’s offer. Information about Liu Industrials would help Rilex Internationals to rise to the top in no time, even if Amber managed to spill just one project they were working on… It was a dream to come true.

The thing was that it seemed too good to be true. Yes, perhaps the first few papers of data would be free – like Amber said, ‘to prove her trustworthiness’ – but the information after that would have a price, one that was not mentioned during their conversation at all. Amber had ensured her that she did not want any information about Rilex in return… Krystal should have been glad to hear that – since she would never give up anything about Rilex if it wasn’t extremely necessary – only she wasn’t. It meant that the price tag was either so big that she would lose more than she’d gain or that it was so suspiciously low that there was no way she could take the deal.   
But God, it was so tempting to just take it. The thought about what kind of information she’d receive was enough to make her mouth water. Data about projects – what kind, when they’d be finished, what they were designing – and balance sheets about Liu Industrials income and outcome... She’d know all about where they’d send their money to and what they receive. The thought of knowing all of that and more without Olympia knowing made her heart beat faster with adrenaline. 

Every day, every hour, every minute it became more difficult to resist the urge to send someone to fetch Amber for her. Krystal was constantly battling with herself; trying to convince herself that listening to her head would be way more useful in the long run. But she felt like a kid who was given the choice to have two candies right now or a whole bag of candies in a few hours. The two candies seemed so incredibly more attractive than the bag; as it was still so vague. 

She managed to survive for three full weeks before Krystal caved in. She wrote the note with the thought in mind that she at least had to hear Amber out. In the two times that they had met, Amber had managed to surprise her both times. Perhaps she would a third time. Third time’s a charm, right?  
Krystal passed the note – which was just a yellow sticky note folded up a couple of times – to Kai.   
“Find Amber Liu and hand it to her. Don’t return before you handed it to her personally. Not a secretary, not a personal assistant, not an intern. Amber Liu herself, capiche?”  
Kai nodded one time with a frown on his face, then left the office in his search for Chester Liu’s long-lost daughter. Krystal watched him go with an unsettling feeling in her stomach. She could not help but wonder whether this was a mistake. Krystal couldn’t help herself but be curious about the woman who had offered her the deal, but whenever she googled her, the more confused she became, which made her questions even bigger.   
Amber Liu, first child of Chester Liu used to be a straight-A-student. She was constantly ranked first in every class, did tons of extracurricular activities and had even won an award for most hard-working student. At least, that was until a year before her finals.   
Krystal couldn’t make sense about why her grades suddenly dropped. Her final grades were just barely enough for her to pass high school. After that, little was heard of the girl’s whereabouts. The only thing that Krystal found was an official statement of Liu Industrials that she would not be following up Chester Liu as the CEO.   
But if she scrolled further down on the Google page, she managed to find more. Pictures and stories. They were all of non-official users which made Krystal a bit wary about whether to believe them. Still, they all had the identical core: Amber Liu had derailed completely. The nice little student was no more and was replaced by someone no one had managed to pierce through yet. Closed down, she spent her days drinking, smoking and causing trouble with her friends – whom she exchanged every few weeks – before they went clubbing. Tattoos and leather were their most recognizable characteristic. Amber Liu had become no good, which made it only more suspicious that she wanted to make a deal with Krystal. The Lone wolf of Liu Industrials definitely meant trouble…   
Yet, every time she discussed the topic with herself, she ended up with the same conclusion: she would only know by getting into a conversation with Amber, otherwise, she would never know whether the price would be worth paying. And with Amber Liu, you’d never know.

Krystal left the office early that day. It was a normal Thursday, which made every single employee look up in confusion when she strolled by to clock herself out at five in the afternoon. Normally, she did not leave the office until six, sometimes even seven at night. And if she left a little early, it was mostly on a Friday due to business meetings in restaurants which she needed to prepare for at home. Never had Krystal Jung ever left the office early on a Thursday, which immediately made everyone suspicious… especially her nosy personal assistant.   
“Are you going home already?” David asked her, as he saw her packing her stuff. He was leaning against the door frame while watching her, one perfectly depilated eyebrow pulled up high on his tanned forehead. Krystal turned around and shot him a warning glance.   
“I am.”  
“On a Thursday?”  
“Yes, that’s right, on a Thursday. Good to know that you know the days of the week,” Krystal replied, rolling her eyes as she did so. David scoffed but did not say anything in return.   
“Is this going to be a regular thing?”  he asked, after a short silence.   
“Depends on tonight,” Krystal said. “It may not be.”  
“Good, otherwise I might think you’d have a boyfriend or something,” David said, making Krystal look up in disgust. She scrunched up her nose disdainfully.   
“Believe me, if this person where the one I’d date, I’d seriously consider selling the company.”  
“So, you are going to meet up with someone who isn’t a rich ass boss from some corporation I probably will forget the name of as soon as you mention it? A business meeting, then?” David asked, eagerly, his curiosity awakened by Krystal’s answer. His tone betrayed that he definitely did not think that Krystal was going to meet a CEO. The woman sighed and started massaging her temples. Her fingers rubbed slow circles, trying to work away the upcoming headache.   
“Don’t you have work to do or something? Tomorrow’s schedule, perhaps? I also need another Board meeting, preferably tomorrow or Monday so try to schedule that in, maybe?”  
David rolled his eyes, knowing the procedure. Whenever Krystal wanted to quit the conversation – mostly because David had already asked too much – she attended him on the amount of work he still had to finish. In fact, the schedules were done and it would take less than a minute to put in a Board meeting and send e-mails to the other members.   
“Suppose I’ll see you tomorrow then,” David sighed, getting the hint.   
Krystal finished packing her stuff and closed her back. She turned around, rose an eyebrow and nodded curtly.   
“You will. And I expect you to clock out at exactly half past five. I will check, David.”  
The younger man chuckled and could not help but to roll his eyes. Krystal could have pretended she hadn’t seen, but she shot him a foul look nevertheless before exiting the office.   
Less than five minutes later, David followed. It did not happen often that your boss left early and even he could not resist to clock out earlier as well. 

Her car brought her back home, half an hour before she had planned to meet up with Amber. It gave her just enough time to tidy herself. Her apartment luckily didn’t need any cleaning; even without a maid coming every day, there was barely any sign of someone actually living here. The kitchen was clean, the fridge almost empty, the black stone floor spotless and the pillows on the couch were as fluffy as they had been when Krystal had just gotten them. The living room looked like a set-up from IKEA, really.  Sometimes, she just turned every electronic device in the apartment on to make sure everything was still working, since she barely ever used them herself.   
Only the bedroom and bathroom were rooms which sometimes needed cleaning. The dried-up spots from water droplets on the glass door from her shower cabin, for example. Or the sheets of her bed after having spent the night in them. 

After a long day at work – well, it hadn’t been that long since Krystal had left office early – she simply looked bad. Still dazzling and incredibly beautiful to the eye of a stranger, of course, but Krystal knew herself well enough to see that the circles under her eyes were coming through again and she was not able to lift up the corners of her mouth even into a polite smile. Her hair was ruffled a little bit by the wind after she had gotten out of her car as well.   
Within ten minutes she had combed her hair and reapplied her makeup. She looked decent again, although she couldn’t get the tired look from her eyes and her limps. By now, she knew that coffee would not help either, as her body had grown used to the caffeine shots three times a day. She reckoned she’d just have to deal with Amber like this.   
To finish the look, she decided to leave her blazer for what it was. It was warm enough in her apartment – which was a rarity since Krystal was mostly cold and liked to get under her blankets – which allowed her to do so. She only wore a white blouse without any sleeves, tugged into her pencil skirt and her black heels. Normally, she would have slipped into something easy, like jeans, but she did not dare to do so now. She could not welcome Amber into her apartment looking like a normal, every-day young woman. More than ever, she needed to impress her. 

There was still a quarter left until Amber was supposed to come – if Kai had managed to find her, as Krystal did not reckon that she spent her days in Liu Industrials’ Headquarters – which left Krystal clueless as what to do. The only thing she could do was wait, but waiting felt extremely awkward. Krystal normally never waited for anyone and she wasn’t used to the feeling of wasting time. And perhaps she still could have made it look like she was working if she had stayed in the office longer, but now that she was back in her apartment she didn’t know what to do. Casually watch television until Amber came in? Too casual. Prepare food as if she knew how to cook? She would just dirty her outfit by that. Spend more time looking at her tired face in the mirror, hoping to work away minuscule flaws in her makeup? She’d only grow more tired of that. None of the options appealed to her. 

Eventually, Krystal took out her laptop again and installed it on the kitchen table. She started it up, but she had no clue which documents to open; she simply stared at the desktop picture – Rilex’s emblem – until she realized that it would look even stupider if Amber found out she had started up her laptop but had not opened anything. Krystal searched through her documents and randomly opened an old one. If Amber managed to sneak a peek at her laptop, then she’d at least see old documents which did not matter anymore. 

Only five more minutes had passed and there were still ten more to go. Feeling like she was about to go insane, Krystal paced around the living room, her heels clacking steadily on the floor. The sound soothed her, but she still felt her insides twisting and turning for the meeting that was about to come.   
Eventually, she just walked towards the kitchen and got out two tumblers. She filled them all the way up with ice and poured whiskey in them until there was a little layer of alcohol in each glass. She took one of them and took a sip immediately. The strong liquor, which had not been cooled down by the ice yet, burned in her throat and she instantly regretted taking such a large sip. Krystal pulled a face and put the glass down again. Still, it was a welcome feeling. The pain in her throat – which she could now feel gliding down her gullet – helped her to focus on something else but her nerves.   
Nerves… Why was she even nervous? Wasn’t she the bigger person here? The powerful CEO; the one with piles of money; the leader of Rilex Internationals’ empire; the one who initiated the meeting. Why, of all times, did she feel like throwing up now? Because it was a direct representative from Liu Industrials? No, she had met Liu Industrials’ vice president once and she had had not trouble putting up her cold façade. Yet, this time it was different.   
Maybe because Amber was different. 

The bell rung at exactly half past five. Krystal, surprised by the sudden sound ringing through the apartment, made her way to the door. Her pace was steady – perhaps Amber could hear her.   
Krystal opened the door and there, leaning against the frame, stood the person who had managed to creeped through her thoughts for the last couple of weeks. One black eyebrow risen up high on her forehead and a cocky smile on her lips, Amber looked back with twinkling eyes.   
“Changed your mind, Princess?”  
Krystal directly remembered why she had been keen on declining Amber’s proposal in the first place; working with this girl was simply unbearable. Everything that came out of her mouth was a direct insult to her existence. She clenched her jaw, trying not to bang the door shut immediately to wipe that cheesy grin off her face.   
“I hope you’re here to negotiate and not to insult me every time you open your mouth,” Krystal hissed. She stepped away from the door to let Amber in. The young woman just laughed disdainfully, waving away Krystal’s threat with a lousy movement of her hand.   
“What a warm welcome. Where are your manners, Miss Jung? Of all people, you ought to have them.”  
Amber stepped into Krystal’s apartment and let her gaze run over the walls and the furniture, taking in every small detail with her watchful look. Krystal let the door fall shut, already regretting letting her in. She immediately looked down to her shoes and whether they left any dirt or stains on the floor – they did not.   
“Which is why I already poured you a drink,” Krystal replied icily. She left Amber at the door and went back to the kitchen to pick up the glasses. Amber followed her and leaned onto the countertop of the kitchen island, taking in Krystal as she handed her the still full tumbler. Her eyes wandered over the other woman, who took small sips from her drink trying not to look up into those deep dark eyes. Amber tilted her head to the right and rose her eyebrows at the sight.   
“I thought you were more of a wine person,” she remarked. Krystal lowered her glass. Indeed, she remembered, she had admitted that. Wine was certainly more to her liking. But somehow, it felt more right to pour herself whiskey as well. When Kai stopped by, she always drank whiskey too. Whenever there was someone in her apartment beside herself, she drank the firey alcoholic beverage, despite it not being her favourite.   
“I am,” she said slowly. Amber looked up at her and could not help but to let a smile break on her face. It was not as cheeky as before, merely self-satisfied. She bowed forward; slowly as if she did not want to scare her. Amber took the glass from Krystal’s hand. As she did so, their fingers touched for just a split second. Krystal immediately took her hand back. The skin burned as if she willingly had put it in boiling water. Amber’s hands were warm – hot, even – on her cold ones. The temperature difference shocked her. The other woman didn’t seem to have noticed it at all and downed Krystal’s drink in one go. She put the empty glass back on the counter. The hollow sound of the glass touching the marble was the only thing besides Krystal’s rather rapid breathing that could be heard in the apartment. Amber looked up again, still smiling, into Krystal’s confused eyes. By now it was futile to try and recollect her face as Amber had already seen it.   
“Get yourself a glass of wine. I’m here to give you what you want, not to force you to do something you don’t like.”


End file.
